Summer overgrazing, Mughal Road fragment Kashmir Markhor’s habitat in Hirpora

Srinagar, Jan 17: Heavy summer grazing by sheep and goats during the breeding season has emerged as the primary threat to the survival of the Kashmir Markhor in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, while habitat fragmentation caused by the Mughal Road has further weakened the already small population, officials and conservationists say.

Forest land diverted for the construction of the Mughal Road in 2008-09 cut through key Markhor habitat in Hirpora, increasing human movement and disturbance, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Wildlife Warden for Pulwama-Shopian, Suhail Wagay, said, “The Mughal Road was the first major disturbance to the Markhor habitat in Hirpora. But, the more serious and continuing pressure now comes from overgrazing during April, May, and June, which overlaps with the breeding season.”

Wildlife officials said the annual arrival of migratory livestock during summer puts heavy pressure on limited forage and disturbs the species at a critical stage of reproduction.

“This is the only growing season after winter,” said an official involved in monitoring the species. “Livestock occupy the same slopes used by Markhor for breeding and feeding, and the constant presence of people and dogs adds to the disturbance.”

To address the issue, the Wildlife Department has stepped up enforcement in sensitive areas of the sanctuary.

“For the first time, seven people have been booked under the anti-grazing law inside protected zones,” Wagay said. “Anti-grazing camps are now stationed at entry and exit points during the summer.”

He said officials were also compiling a database of herders operating inside Hirpora and geotagging traditional grazing shelters, locally known as Dhoks, to prevent further expansion.

The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), which has been working on Markhor conservation in Jammu and Kashmir since 2005, also identifies livestock grazing as the most immediate threat to the Hirpora population.

Project head at WTI, Tanushree Shrivastav, said, “In Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, heavy summer grazing by migratory herders is affecting key Markhor areas. We are working with the Wildlife Department to reduce non-bona fide herding practices.”

A WTI assessment stresses that controlling grazing is essential for recovery and recommends documenting herders, livestock numbers, grazing areas, and duration of stay.

However, the founder of the J&K RTI Movement and the Forest Rights Coalition-J&K, Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, disputed the overgrazing argument.

“Blaming overgrazing for damage to Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary is misleading,” he said. “Pastoral communities have long practiced sustainable grazing. The real harm has come from road construction, power transmission projects, and human movement.”

Rasool said the Markhor’s decline was primarily due to habitat fragmentation and blocked wildlife corridors, particularly fencing along the Line of Control (LoC).

He said that the Forest Rights Act, 2006, legally protects pastoralists’ rights, making their criminalisation illegal.

Hirpora has historically supported a small Markhor population, making it particularly vulnerable.

Wildlife Warden for North Kashmir, Suhail Intesar, said, “The population in Hirpora has never exceeded 40 to 50 animals in the past 30 years. Sightings have become rare, and habitat shrinkage has made survival difficult.”

Intesar, who earlier served in Shopian, said the species was more secure in Kazinag National Park in north Kashmir, which remains India’s last stronghold for the Markhor.

“When populations decline, they disappear first from the edges,” he said. “Hirpora lies at the edge of the Markhor’s Pir Panjal range.”

The Markhor recovery project began in 2009 using compensatory funds received after land was diverted for the Mughal Road, officials said.

Subsequent surveys led to the notification of the Tattakuti Wildlife Sanctuary, adjacent to Hirpora, in 2012 after Markhor were sighted there for the first time in six decades.

“The area of Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary has since been expanded from 189 to 341 sq km,” Shrivastav said. “Together, Hirpora, Pir Ki Gali, Tattakuti, and parts of Poonch function as a single corridor.”

Conservationists believe some Markhor may have shifted into adjoining protected areas, though their numbers remain unclear.

An upcoming census is expected to provide more information.

The Kashmir Markhor (Capra falconeri), the world’s largest wild mountain goat, plays a key role in alpine ecosystems by regulating vegetation and supporting predators such as snow leopards, leopards, and wolves.

The species is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, based on its 2014 assessment.

Globally, about 5000 Markhor survive, with an estimated 250 to 300 in Jammu and Kashmir.

While officials say poaching has largely been eliminated, they warn that survival in the Pir Panjal corridor – particularly in Hirpora depends on regulating grazing during the breeding season.

“Protecting breeding habitat during summer is now the biggest challenge,” Wagay said. “Without that, the Markhor will continue to retreat from Hirpora.”