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Wild Water Buffalo Bubalus Arnee in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: Status, Population and Conservation Importance

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Wild Water Buffalo Bubalus Arnee in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: Status, Population and Conservation Importance JoTT COMMUNI C ATION 4(14): 3294–3301 Wild Water Buffalo Bubalus arnee in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: status, population and conservation importance Top Bahadur Khatri 1, Deep Narayan Shah 2 & Nilamber Mishra 3 1,2 Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetlands in Nepal (CSUWN), Training Section Building, Second floor, Forestry Complex, Babar Mahal, Kathmandu, Nepal 3 Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Paschim Kusaha, Sunsari, Nepal Email: 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected] (corresponding author), 3 [email protected] Date of publication (online): 26 November 2012 Abstract: The Asiatic Wild Water Buffalo Bubalus arnee is an endangered species Date of publication (print): 26 November 2012 restricted to South and Southeast Asia. Nepal’s only population survives in the Koshi ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print) Tappu Wildlife Reserve which is located on the floodplain of the Koshi River, a tributary of Ganga. This species is under threat due to high anthropogenic pressure ranging Editor: L.A.K. Singh from habitat deterioration to hybridization with domestic buffalo. Yet, the population has Manuscript details: grown from 63 in 1976 to 219 in 2009, despite the decline in the calf/cow ratio. The Ms # o2990 present study conducted in 2009 used the block count method. The count showed the Received 06 November 2011 presence of a backcrossed population of 74 in addition to the total of 219 individuals. At Final received 09 July 2012 present, a number of conservation and livelihood interventions have been undertaken Finally accepted 29 September 2012 to safeguard the biodiversity, particularly the wild buffalo population in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. The community-based sustainable management approach benefiting Citation: Khatri, T.B., D.N. Shah & N. Mishra (2012). Wild Water Buffalo Bubalus arnee in both conservation and livelihood of local people is necessary to ensure the long term Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal: status, conservation of the species. population and conservation importance. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(14): 3294–3301. Keywords: Bubalus arnee, Critically Endangered, Koshi flood, population census. Copyright: © Top Bahadur Khatri, Deep Narayan Shah & Nilamber Mishra 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any INTRODUCTION medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication. The genus Bubalus was widely distributed in Europe and southern Asia Author Details: TOP BAHADUR KHA T RI ’s research in the Pleistocene age, but was later restricted to the Indian subcontinent interests are in resource management, park- and Southeast Asia (Mason 1974). Today, the Asiatic Wild Water Buffalo people interface, community stewardship and wetland conservation in Asia. He has been Bubalus arnee (Bubalus bubalis Groves 1981) occurs in India, Nepal, implementing various integrated conservation and development projects in and around the Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. They are associated with protected areas of Nepal for over two decades. wet grasslands, swamps and densely vegetated river valleys. They have DEEP NARAYA N SHAH ’s research interests are in biodiversity, community ecology, biogeography, been extirpated in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Laos and Vietnam. Nepal’s only population genetics and conservation biology. In particular, he focuses on the influence of population thrives in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) which is global climate and human land-use change located on the floodplain of a snow-fed perennial river, Koshi, a tributary on animal population and communities. He has been conducting research in the Hindu of Ganga. The KTWR was gazetted in 1976 to preserve the habitat for the Kush Himalayan region and is associated with several national and international scientific only remaining population of Bubalus arnee here as Arna in Nepal. This organizations. species is categorized as Endangered (Hedges et al. 2008) on the IUCN NILAM B ER MI S HRA ’s research interests are in the ecology and conservation of the large mammals Red List. of South Asia. He has been working as Conservation Officer (Warden) in the protected The wild water buffalo is highly endangered, with a world population areas of Nepal for over two decades. considered by FAO to be certainly fewer than 4000 animals (Scherf Author Contribution: DNS conceived, designed 2000). Scherf (2000) indicated that small isolated populations may and performed the study and wrote up the paper. TBK planned the study and NM contributed in the remain in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (Nepal), Bastar and Raipur study design and performed field study. districts of Madhya Pradesh and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary/Project Tiger Acknowledgements: See end of this article. Reserve (India), Royal Manas National Park (Bhutan), and Huai Kha urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:263B7577-CE69- Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary (Thailand), as these populations are believed 44F2-9A96-13A775791AF5 to have been least affected by interbreeding with domestic and/or feral buffalo. Flamand et al. (2003) confirmed eight out of 10 wild buffalo OPEN ACCESS | FREE DOWNLOAD samples to be of pure wild variety genetically at KTWR. The census of 3294 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | November 2012 | 4(14): 3294–3301 Arna in Koshi Tappu T.B. Khatri et al. Arna in KTWR has been carried out since 1976 and people, not only of Nepal but also of India. After the till now five censuses have been conducted at four breach of the eastern embankment, efforts were made uneven intervals over a 34-year period. The most to revert the main channel back to its original course recent census was in 2004 that estimated a population by employing over hundreds of heavy machines and of 159 wild buffalo, and a highly backcrossed, semi- equipments backed by a strong fleet of over 1000 feral population of 49 animals (Heinen & Kandel personnel for a period of over one year. The Reserve 2006). The global and national status of this species as had to cope with all the externalities like temporary documented by IUCN’s Asian Wild Cattle and Buffalo settlements within the reserve, supply of fuel wood Specialist Group and the American Zoo Association and fodder, excessive use of local resources by both suggested that appropriate management is of the local people as well as by the construction company highest conservation priority. that was engaged in the repair and maintenance work The KTWR has faced Reserve-people conflicts of the breached embankment. During the course of since its establishment. The effect of human repair and maintenance, six male Arna were moved disturbance varies greatly, depending on the nature 5km south of the barrage (in Gobargarha Village) and its intensity. Therefore, realizing the above from their habitat due to the high level of disturbance. situation, the Government of Nepal in 2004, declared During this period, the reserve had to bear the brunt of a surrounding area of 173.5km2 as a buffer zone. this natural disaster. This is one of the country’s innovative strategies for During the period of political instability and participatory conservation, emphasizing a buffer conflict, all the security posts were damaged and zone mechanism designed to reduce the adverse the security personnel were withdrawn and merged impact of protected areas on the livelihoods of within the reserve headquarters, Kushaha. As a result, local communities and vice versa. The total human law enforcement became very weak due to which population of the buffer zone in 2009 was 93,323 from encroachment, illegal grazing, harvesting of resources 16,280 households. As mandated by the Buffer Zone became rampant. Management Regulations, the buffer zone is entitled The main threat to the wild buffalo is the continued to receive a 50% share of the revenue generated by the mixing and mingling of the wild and the domestic KTWR for community development activities. The stocks resulting in hybridization. In addition, as a result money received is channeled through the user groups. of the Koshi flood of 2008, there were speculations These user groups are formed at the settlement level of a wide scale loss of this species. Therefore, to and are responsible for the planning, management and ascertain the status, a census was conducted jointly supervision of the activities implemented. by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife The Koshi River meanders and passes through the Conservation (DNPWC) and the Conservation and KTWR. The river not only shapes the physical features Sustainable Use of Wetlands in Nepal (CSUWN). of the region, but also modifies the ecosystem of the Here we report the current findings and compare it area and has profound impact on the socio-economic with earlier censuses. Furthermore, we have assessed characteristics of the local communities of the buffer the current management practices to provide future zone residents. The Koshi River, which changes its management guidance. course quite rapidly across years, changed its main course dramatically during the monsoon of 2008 and breached a 2km stretch and entered the human MATERIALS AND METHODS settlements through Kushaha Village (Khatri et al. 2010a). This sudden shift in the course of Koshi River Study area has had a profound effect in the physical landscape KTWR (86055’–87005’E & 26034’–26045’N) and subsequent impacts towards human settlement lies in the alluvial flood plains of the Koshi River of and their agricultural fields. Large tracts of forest near eastern Nepal (Fig. 1). The flood plain is a complex Prakashpur Village and grasslands in the eastern part mosaic of lotic and lentic ecosystems, characterized by of the region were totally washed away. The Koshi grassy marshes, oxbow lakes, swamp lakes and many breach brought untold misery and loss to the lives of depressions which retain water throughout the year. Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | November 2012 | 4(14): 3294–3301 3295 Arna in Koshi Tappu T.B.
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