(IN) Sixteen little piggies

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080602/jsp/knowhow/story_9349551.jsp

 

Monday , June 2 , 2008

These little pigs are going to the wild

The pygmy hog was thought to be extinct. Now a group of them has been let

loose to wallow in the wild of Assam. ** reports Safe

haven at the Basistha Pygmy Hog Conservation CentreClockwise from left: Fly

agaric, mosaic puffball and parasol

 

Pigs may or may not fly, but they can always take a great leap forward.

Sixteen tiny pigs – belonging to a species that was once thought extinct –

have just been let out in the wild after being reared in captivity.

 

The rare pygmy hog (*Porcula salvania*), about 14 inches tall and roughly

the size of a pup, was given up as extinct – till a few pigs were spotted in

Assam in the early Seventies. After a failed attempt to rear them, a pygmy

hog breeding centre was started in 1996 on the outskirts of Guwahati in

Basistha with the help of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, British

author and naturalist Gerald Durrell's Jersey-based conservation centre. And

now the group of pigs is ready -- or so experts hope -- to wallow in the

wild.

 

The shy pig, with a bullet shaped nose that helps it make its way through

thick vegetation, was reared on a diet of eggs and the choicest fruits at

Basistha. " But they were provided with as natural a habitat as possible in

view of their eventual release, " says pygmy hog and grassland expert Bibuti

Lahkar, a conservationist based in Assam.

 

The pygmy hog was first noted in 1847 by taxonomist B.H. Hodgson and named

Sus salvanius. " Pygmy hogs were found in a narrow belt of grassland south of

the Himalayan foothills in (what is now) Uttarakhand, Nepal, Bihar, North

Bengal and Assam, " says Goutam Narayan, head of the Basistha Pygmy Hog

Conservation Centre.

 

By the 1960s the pig was considered extinct, as their natural habitat – tall

grasses rich in alluvial soils -- gave way to development. When a few pigs

were spotted in the grasslands of Assam over 30 years ago, efforts began to

rear them in captivity.

 

" But the first results were dismal. The captive population died out and the

animal seemed precariously perched on the edge of extinction, " says

Bidyutjyoti Das, veterinarian at the Basistha conservation centre.

 

Then, after seven years of lengthy negotiations with the government of India

and the Assam forest department, Durrell's team from the Channel Islands

started a captive-breeding centre. The pygmy hog release project cost over

Rs 300,000, and organisations such as the British Darwin initiative have

generously contributed towards this.

 

" Six wild pygmy hogs -- two males and four females -- were captured from

their last surviving population in the Manas National Park, " says John Fa,

director of conservation science at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

" They bred well for the next 12 years and when their population stood at

around 80 animals in captivity, it was considered to release them back to

their rightful home in the grasslands where they belong. "

 

So, last month, 16 hogs were released in the Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary

in the Sonitpur district of Assam. The select lot was first transferred to a

specially constructed pre-release facility in what conservationist called a

soft release programme. They were kept in large enclosures for five months

and then moved to the final release enclosures in the Sonai Rupai Wildlife

Sanctuary, replicating an environment that they will finally have to adjust

to.

 

" Animals scheduled for release should be maintained in captivity in such a

way that they retain their instincts for life in the wild, " pointed out

Ashok Kumar, director of the Wildlife Trust of India in Delhi.

 

" The population of the released pygmy hogs will be monitored using direct

and indirect methods such as radio harnessing and analysis of faecal

matter, " says veterinarian Das.

 

If the pigs thrive in the wild, they are likely to help other species

survive too. A healthy pygmy hog population means a flourishing tallgrass

habitat, which is important for a host of other species as well. Experts

believe the pig's well being will have a positive effect on the one-horned

rhinos and water buffalos, and some threatened birds.

 

" Very rare grassland species of birds such as the Hodgson's Bush Chat,

Slender Billed Babbler and Finn's Baya could benefit from efforts to save

the pygmy hog, " says Kushal Mukherjee, a wildlife conservationist based in

Calcutta. " The success of the pygmy hog captive breeding and release

projects might also highlight the importance of captive breeding for other

rare and endangered animal species such as the Hoolock Gibbon that is found

in the forests of north east India, " adds P.C. Bhattacharjee, a zoology

professor at Guwahati University.

 

Having endured insurgency, human encroachment and predators such as pythons,

the pygmy hog is all set to send a message to the world. " The pygmy hog

project bears testimony to the fact that interested parties cutting across a

wide spectrum of interests can join hands for the common objective of nature

preservation, " says Bibhab Talukdar, general secretary of Aaranyak, a

wildlife protection group in Guwahati. This little pig has shown the way.