Surat: In an attempt to increase the prey base to reduce the human-leopard conflict in South Gujarat, the three four-horned antelopes, bred at Shri Digvrendrasinh Deer & Ungulate Breeding centre at Vansda were released in the enclosure of the Vansda National park in Navsari district on Saturday.
This was the first such release of four-horned antelopes — two males and one female — bred at a breeding centre run by the city-based Nature Club Surat (NCS) in coordination of the forest department.
The project aims to breed and restock the three pre-existing deer and antelope species to restore prey-base for leopards in Vansda National Park and maintain the food-chain balance in the ecosystem.
Volunteers of NCS said this is the first-ever soft release of four-horned antelope across South-Gujarat. Currently, Vansda National Park has spotted deer, four-horned antelope, and barking deer population.
NCS has been successfully breeding two out of three species of deer and antelope at the breeding centre.
Snehal Patel of NCS told TOI, “Four-horned antelope are solitary animals that don’t prefer to live in larger groups. These antelope are very shy and usually hard to spot in wild habitats due to their small size.”
Earlier, NCS along with the forest department had successfully released close to 30 spotted deer in the wild habitats of Vansda National Park.
Soon, these three four-horned antelope will also be released from their soft release enclosure into the wild.