South African wildlife experts help save India’s wild Gaur

Written by Debbie Cooper - Courtesy of Wild Magazine
June 2012. Bigger than a buffalo, the gaur or Indian bison is an impressive species. Unfortunately, it's also under threat and some years ago died out in the Madhya Pradesh province of India. But thanks to a translocation project, spearheaded by South African game capture specialists from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the animal's local extinction has been reversed. 

In a groundbreaking exercise, leading South African conservationists, working with a team of Indian counterparts, have successfully reversed a local extinction of the gaur (Indian bison) in the Madhya Pradesh province in northern India. Fifty animals have been moved from Kanha National Park into the secure Bandhavgarh National Park, providing a viable breeding herd to sustainably repopulate some of their original habitat.

Animal translocation
The idea for the project first took root some five years ago when Les Carlisle, Conservation Manager for &Beyond, looked around the park, where &Beyond has tourist concessions, and realised that gaurs could be translocated to repopulate the area. At the time animal translocation - common in South Africa - was not a familiar concept in India, which has seen much regional extinction in recent decades. Seeking to change this, Carlisle enlisted the aid of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife game capture specialists Dr Dave Cooper and Jeff Cooke, and an Indian delegation was invited to South Africa to witness firsthand the achievements that the provincial conservation body had made in wildlife relocation.

Continued;  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/gaur.html#cr