Omar’s Dachigam meet puts hangul’s fragile recovery and shrinking habitat in spotlight

SRINAGAR: The hangul, or Kashmir stag, whose population was estimated at 323 in Dachigam National Park and adjoining areas in the 2025 survey after falling to 127 in 2008, has returned to the centre of public attention after J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah held a meeting of National Conference legislators and MPs inside Dachigam on June 3, a political event that ended with a statehood protest plan but drew focus to the endangered deer’s uncertain recovery.

Omar had convened the meeting to discuss National Conference’s demand for restoration of statehood to J&K, and the party decided to hold a protest march in New Delhi. But because the meeting took place in Dachigam, the best-known and most critical habitat of the hangul, the political gathering quickly opened another debate over the animal’s survival, the condition of its habitat and the conservation decisions that remain with J&K govt even as the question of statehood lies with Centre.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti wrote on social media that “in Kashmir, MLAs are more endangered than hanguls” and suggested a separate wildlife park for legislators, drawing a sharp response from National Conference lawmaker Sajjad Shaheen, who said elected representatives met people every day and could hardly be described as endangered. The exchange was political, but it pushed into view a species that researchers said remained vulnerable despite a slow rise in numbers over the past two decades.

Researchers said the hangul’s decline had been severe over the last century, with historical estimates placing its population at around 5,000 in 1900 and about 2,000 by 1947, though precise figures from that period were unavailable. The Wildlife Protection Department’s surveys later showed the scale of the slide in recent decades: 197 animals were estimated in 2004, followed by 153 in 2006 and 127 in 2008, before the numbers rose to 175 in 2009, 218 in 2011, 183 in 2015, 214 in 2017, 237 in 2019, 261 in 2021, 275 in 2023 and 323 in Dachigam and adjoining areas in the 2025 survey based on direct sightings.

The improvement has not removed the threat, researchers said, because the species still survives in a small, fragmented population with limited genetic diversity and a habitat that has shrunk under sustained pressure. They said the hangul risked being trapped in an “extinction vortex”, in which a small population, low genetic diversity and disconnected habitats make breeding weaker and recovery harder, even when census numbers show a gradual rise.


A J&K wildlife department report last year had also flagged significant degradation of hangul habitat due to extensive biotic disturbances, including excessive livestock grazing in former summer ranges, grass cutting, collection of fuel and firewood, and human movement, particularly from CRPF personnel and vehicles stationed inside the park and staff of more than six other govt departments operating in Lower Dachigam. The report said poaching had also played a major role in the deterioration of hangul habitat and contributed to the species’ decline.

Researchers said the immediate conservation measures needed for the hangul included removal of livestock from key habitats, recovery of productive summer ranges, protection of wildlife corridors connecting Dachigam with other parts of the species’ historic range, and control of feral dogs that prey on fawns and compete with wildlife. “We have evidence that where there are hangul, there are also dogs. An increase in the dog population impacts the hangul population and needs to be checked,” a researcher said.

Parvaiz Ahmad Wani, wildlife warden, however, said the department had no recorded history of dogs being sighted inside Dachigam National Park. “We have not recorded any such incident so far. I don’t think there are feral dogs or stray dogs inside the park. Even if a dog enters the park, it is unlikely to survive for long as predators like leopards are present there. A dog is easy prey for a leopard and would be preferred over many other animals,” Wani said.

Wani said the park’s peripheral areas had undergone significant conservation measures over the years and a sheep breeding farm had also been relocated from the park. He said eco-tourism could be promoted in Dachigam, provided it was regulated and planned around conservation.

A researcher from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology said recommendations for hangul conservation had already been submitted to the chief minister, including legal protection for movement corridors identified through satellite telemetry studies. “Maintaining connectivity is critical for ensuring gene flow. Through satellite telemetry studies, we have identified the areas used by hangul for movement and recommended that these corridors be brought under legal protection,” the researcher said.

Researchers also favoured regulated hangul-focused eco-tourism, provided it was planned around conservation and did not add pressure to the animal’s habitat. “If people come to see the hangul, it will promote eco-tourism and create a stronger connection between local communities and wildlife,” a researcher said, adding that greater visitor presence in forest areas could improve monitoring and surveillance, deter illegal activity, support conservation efforts and help stop poaching.

The political demand discussed in Dachigam will be decided by Centre, but researchers said the measures needed to secure the hangul’s future — protecting corridors, reducing disturbance, removing livestock from sensitive areas and giving legal status to movement routes — remain within the authority of J&K govt. For them, the June 3 meeting mattered less because of where lawmakers gathered than because it placed the region’s elected leadership inside the habitat of an animal whose recovery still depends on decisions that have not yet been fully carried out.