Deer & blackbucks may be relocated from airport site to proposed Sec 91 park

NOIDA: Deer and blackbucks are likely to be relocated from near the Noida airport site to a deer park that is proposed to be developed by Noida Authority on a 30-acre forest land within the Biodiversity Park in Sector 91.

Approved by Noida Authority board in July, the project is estimated to cost Rs 40 crore. The park is proposed to house over 130 deer of various species with animals also to be sourced from zoos across the country — mouse deer from Hyderabad, brow-antlered deer, hog deer, swamp deer, sambar deer, Indian antelopes (blackbuck, chinkara, chowsingha), and spotted deer from Lucknow and Kanpur. African antelopes, including springbok, impala, wildebeest, and lesser kudu, will be imported from Africa.

DFO Pramod Srivastav told TOI that to translocate animals within UP they would need permission from the state's wildlife warden, while to move them across states required approval from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA). "Depending on the health of rescued deer and blackbucks, they can be shifted to Noida's Deer Park," the DFO said.

The area surrounding the airport project was home to several species, including nilgai, blackbuck, Indian gazelle, monkeys, golden jackals, jungle cats, and sarus cranes.

A survey of the 1,334 hectares earmarked for the airport's first phase, along with an area extending 10 to 25 km beyond it, had recorded 258 blackbucks, with the largest group of 29 spotted near Rohi-Parohi villages, southeast of the airport site.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which prepared a biodiversity conservation plan for the airport area, identified blackbucks and sarus cranes as key species inhabiting the land acquired for the airport. It then suggested establishing a rescue centre for the affected fauna.

Subsequently, in Aug, the state govt assigned Yamuna Expressway Authority the task of constructing a rescue and rehabilitation centre for animals and birds displaced by the airport project on 10 hectares near Dhanauri wetland at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore. It will include a veterinary hospital, a quarantine facility, and enclosures for various animals.

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