Innocent large eyes of the blackbuck always seem to appeal "Save me". This beautiful creature, which was found close to 80000 in numbers a few decades ago in India is now only 25000 in numbers in protected sanctuaries. It's habitat is disappearing fast and other perils are looming large.
The innocent beauty
To understand the perils the blackbuck population is facing, we need to understand some of the history first -
Blackbuck - The favorite of Royalty
Blackbuck is a species of antelope which is native to the Indian subcontinent. It is found in Nepal and Pakistan too but the main population has always been in Indian subcontinent.
Blackbuck habitats
(Image source)
Due to it's beautiful horns and in general lovely appearance, it has always been a favorite animal of royalty in India over the ages. So much so that many princely states, prior to Independence of India, had the blackbuck on their coat of arms.
Examples of blackbucks on coat of arms of princely states
(Image source)
Blackbuck - Culturally revered too
Blackbuck featured in historic and religious depictions of scenes along with deities or royal personas ...
Unfortunately, most of the artworks I found are copyrighted and I can not really display them. We can, however, find many examples in museum catalogues online.
Blackbucks have also been depicted as decorative sculptures in some temples in India, One such example is below:
Blackbuck carving on temple pillars
(Image source)
Downfall of the blackbuck - historic
Beauty and it's tasty meat is what is getting it killed. In the pre-independence times, blackbucks, which were found in hoards of 8-10 thousand on grasslands of various princely states, were hunted in large numbers by royal parties. It became a popular hunting sport to use trained Cheetahs to hunt blackbucks.
One of the paintings even depicts Emperor Akbar engaging in the sport.
The great hunting sport
Population of blackbucks started dwindling fast. From 80000 in pre-independence times, it fell to a low of 8000 in India in 1964. A ten-fold decrease!!
After the catastrophic decline Indian government took some strong measures and declared some protected zones and banned hunting of the blackbuck.
Current status of blackbuck
Legally, blackbuck is protected since the government has banned hunting. However, is it really safe?
I do not think so. Just see the following headline that appeared in news last year -
Blackbucks still face many perils
(Image source)
Not only this, but the grasslands, the main habitat of the blackbuck is fast disappearing in India. The following article speaks at length about how and why grasslands are not protected well.
Grasslands, the main habitat of blackbuck is not protected well
(Image source)
All hope is not lost though. Recently, in the state of Odisha, the blackbuck population has shown a growth.
Action
While the government is doing the needful to protect grasslands and blackbucks, resources are limited with the state agencies. Therefore, we must keep a very watchful eye and report perils that threaten the blackbuck to authorities. We need to spread awareness, especially in farming communities to stop killing the blackbuck, intentionally or unintentionally (due to electric fences etc.).
We must all pitch in, in whichever manner we can, to stop the decline of blackbuck population.
Please look in the eyes of the blackbuck, with those long eyelashes, in the picture I took. Here it is in original format.
My own click
I went looking for short eared owls that day actually in the grasslands 300 KM from my home. Didn't find any but was very lucky to have this close encounter with a beautiful blackbuck that misty morning. I consider myself lucky for having been able to see and photograph this lovely creation of God.
I request you all to share this article or at least spread the word about protecting this innocent beauty. Thank you.
A big thank you for support
Thanks to Amazing nature community for providing this wonderful opportunity to present my experience and photographs.
Thanks to HIVE for this wonderful platform.
Note: All images and collages in this blog are created by me, based on photos clicked by me personally and/or free vector images from Pixabay
Quotes used, if not credited, are either from unknown authors or are proverbial old sayings.
