Last breeding female wild buffalo ‘Asha’ dies
| Date :19-Feb-2020 |
Staff Reporter :
RAIPUR,
The last breeding female buffalo of Chhattisgarh ‘Asha’ breathed her last on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. After Jugadu and Shyamu, Asha is the third State Animal to have died in past one year. Asha died at a rescue centre of Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger reserve. Trackers found the dead buffalo nearly 200 meters from the main gate of the enclosure surrounded by wired fences and notified the officers. Wildlife Trust of India Veterinary Dr R P Mishra has verified the report and informed that Asha was at ripe old age and was undergoing treatment.
Another male buffalo was also reported have been ill. The male buffalo has reportedly been suffering of some problems in the eyes. Asha so far has given birth to 7 male buffaloes. The incident has put Forest Department in deep concerns as three buffaloes have died in 10 months. First one to go was Jugadu, followed by Shyamu and now Asha. Various experiments were going for increasing the population of the buffaloes. Although, there is still one female buffalo Khushi in Chhattisgarh and one clone ‘Bipasha’ still in Haryana, but they are not yet breeding.
Death of Asha was come up as big set-back to the Forest Department’s efforts for increasing the State Animal’s population. The Department is also trying to import female buffaloes from Assam, but given the abysmal record of the wildlife conservation in Chhattisgarh, it’s not hard to guess the result of this venture.