Tal Chappar Blackbuck Sanctuary
- Recently, the Rajasthan High Court has ordered a “complete prohibition” on any action that reduces the area of Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary.
- The court has given this order for the purpose of protecting the sanctuary.
- The court has directed to complete the formalities for declaring the area around Tal Chappar as an Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) at the earliest.
- The World Wildlife Fund for Nature has also started a major project for the conservation of raptors in this sanctuary spread over an area of 7.19 sq km.
Tal Chhapar Sanctuary
- This sanctuary is located in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan and some part of the famous Shekhawati region.
- It was given the status of a sanctuary in the year 1966. Tal Chhapar was a hunting reserve of the erstwhile royal family of Bikaner.
- Tal is a Rajasthani word, which means flat land.
- This is the only sanctuary in India where black bucks are found in large numbers. The land of this sanctuary is almost treeless, salty and flat.
- The sanctuary is home to around 4,000 blackbuck, over 40 species of raptors and over 300 species of endemic and migratory birds.
- Migratory birds commonly seen here include Harriers, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Little Green Bee-eaters etc.
Black buck
- The scientific name of blackbuck is ‘Antilope cervicapra’, which is also known as ‘Indian antelope’. It is a species of antelope originally endemic to India and Nepal.
- They are widely found in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and other regions (all over peninsular India).
- It is considered to be the second fastest animal in the world after the cheetah. It is the state animal of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
- It has been placed in Schedule-I under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
- And under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), it has been placed in Appendix-III.
Eco-sensitive Zone
- These are areas notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
- Its basic purpose is to regulate certain activities around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
Source – The Hindu
