Saving the black buck becomes a mission

Driven by desperation, the Schedule I animals seek to slake their thirst in villages, in the process destroying crop and causing a nuisance to farmers. Though they resent the marauding beasts, the farmers have made arrangements to provide water, knowing fully well that the black bucks face certain death if left to the mercy of the Forest Department.

The Government has constructed troughs, but has failed to make facilities to fill them. There are at least five to six troughs, but there are no borewells nor has the Government made any facilities to fill them through tankers.

Mori says though they are tired of the black bucks and want them shifted to some other place or taken to a protected area, they cannot see the animals die of thirst or become victims of poachers.

He says there are two small lakes in the area, of which one is dry and the other is nearly dry, but the villagers fill the lakes every fortnight by using water from the tubewell just to ensure the animals don’t go thirsty.

"We will not let these animals die for want of water, even if we have to give water from our borewells," Navinbhai Shankerji, also from the village, says.

The villagers have made a small artificial lake in their fields for the animals. He said they had even tried to fill the troughs, but the black bucks preferred the artificial lake. He said the State Government had recently constructed a trough in the village despite the villagers requesting the authorities not to do so as they were useless sans water.

Another villager, Mohanbhai Chaganbhai, says they cannot even grow anything in the fields as the black bucks render their efforts futile. With no compensation forthcoming from the government, nor any steps taken to protect the animals, several villagers are now migrating to cities.

Another threat to the animals are poachers. He says in the last few months about eight to 10 incidents of attack on the black bucks have been reported. The poachers come at night, shoot the animals and take the carcasses away, he adds.

Fearing the safety of the animals, the villagers have been maintaining a vigil, but it is now imperative that they be shifted to a safer place, Chaganbhai says.

Purshottam Bhagwandas suggests the government make them unconscious and then transfer them to a safer place like the Little Rann of Kutch, which used to be their habitat. "These animals have ruined us, but we don’t want o kill them," he says.