JAMMU, SEPT 17: They are the victims of the recent Indo-Pak conflict in Kargil, but their plight has failed to attract the attention of the civilized world. Unfortunately, no one has even bothered to ascertain their fate nor can they speak for themselves.This is the plight of some of the rare species of wild animals, which have disappeared from the war-hit areas in Kargil district and also Turtuk in the adjoining Leh following heavy pounding of shells from across the border. With Pakistani shells still occasionally hitting the area, these wild animals are shy of returning to their native places.These rare species included Snow Leopards, Wolves, Brown Beer and Ibex. They were mostly found in Drass, Batalik, Kargil and Karakurram in Turtuk - all affected by recent two month long Indo-Pak conflict.Even about two months after the end of the Kargil conflict, the Wildlife officials in the State appear to be unaware of their fate. They have not even initiated any survey to ascertain their whereabouts sofar."They might have migrated to deeper areas on the Indian side for safety," said the Chief Wildlife Warden in the State. Denying any casualty among these rare species during the shelling, he said that many areas in the mountainous ridges of Ladakh region had remained unaffected by shelling."They are very sensitive and their sixth sense might have made them to flee to safer areas much before the outbreak of the Indo-Pak conflict," he said. While he maintained that these animals have not crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) due to panic, he could not specify as to which areas they have migrated.The Wildlife warden in Ladakh confirmed that two month long shelling in Kargil did affect the wildlife, with rare species having migrated to safer areas. While the Snow Leopards appear to have migrated from the protected Karakurram area (Turtuk) to to Dulat Bii and Hundan about 60-150 kms away, Ibex has gone to Khalsi, Padam and Zanskar from the border areas of Kargil.Same appears tobe the case with other species, he said and added that they will return to their native places once complete peace returns on the Indo-Pak border.He also denied have received any report about casualties having taken place among these rare species. However, they were not available in areas once affected by shelling, he added.According to figures available with the Wildlife Department, Brown Beer were only 10 to 15 in numbers at Kangi (a protected area spread over about 500 square kms in Kargil), before the outbreak of Indo-Pak conflict. Similarly, the number of Snow Leopards was between 200 to 300 in the protected Karakurram area (Turtuk), while Ibex were between 12,000 to 15,000 in five protected areas spread over 41 square kms. The wolves' were also 150 to 200 in numbers in nine protected areas spread over 85,000 square kms, he said and added that three of those areas fall in Kargil.
