Declining Hangul Population | 20 Jul 2019

The Hangul (or Kashmiri Stag) population monitoring exercise has revealed an alarming decline in the fawn-hind and stag-hind ratio of the hangul population in Kashmir.

• Exercise was conducted by the Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu & Kashmir (DWLP) in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
• Fawn is a young deer in its first year and Hind is a female deer, over three years old and her counterpart, the mature male, is called a stag.
• The male-female and fawn-female ratios, is crucial for the management and conservation of deer populations.
• Although hangul is limited to the Dachigam Wildlife Sanctuary near Srinagar, but a small population has also been witnessed in Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary in south Kashmir.
• The Kashmir stag is the state animal of Jammu and Kashmir and is the only surviving species of red deer in India.