GUWAHATI
Nine captive-bred pygmy hogs were released in western Assam’s Manas National Park on Tuesday (October 1, 2024). It was the fifth such exercise by the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP) since 2020.
The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) is the world’s smallest and rarest wild pig most threatened by extinction.
The pygmy hogs were released in the presence of the State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of the Forest Force, R.P. Singh.
“The effort to reintroduce the endangered pygmy hog in the 500 sq. km Manas National Park to stabilise its population is commendable,” he said.
Specialists at the PHCP said 27 individuals of the endangered species have been released at the Kanchanbari grassland of the national park so far. A 2023 camera trap study at the release site showed that the hogs were exploring and breeding in the area.
A pregnant female hog was captured on camera in the wild for the first time in the programme’s history.
The Assam Forest Department, the U.K.-based Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission’s Wild Pig Specialist Group, the Union Environment Ministry and Ecosystems-India are stakeholders in the PHCP with Aaranyak, an Assam-based biodiversity conservation group, as the delivery partner.
“We have been working to bring this precious species back from the brink after it was considered extinct in the 1970s. We have, so far, successfully bred and reintroduced 179 pygmy hogs in the protected areas of Assam,” Parag Jyoti Deka, project director of the PHCP, said.
The other major protected area where pygmy hogs were reintroduced includes the 200 sq. km. Orang National Park, about 120 km southeast of the Manas National Park.
The PHCP started in 1996 with two males and two females captured from the Bansbari Range of the Manas National Park. The captive-bred pygmy hogs were first reintroduced in the wild in 2008.
Published - October 01, 2024 05:55 pm IST
