Omar Abdullah fears Kashmir stag may vanish as a species

SRINAGAR: J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has expressed concern over the vanishing hangul , a critically endangered subspecies of Central Asian red deer, also known as the Kashmir stag , which is endemic to the Kashmir region. He fears they may go extinct.

“I don’t want a situation tomorrow where our children and grandchildren know these species only through photographs in books, like the dodo or woolly mammoth,” the CM said at the 2nd International Conference on Hangul at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture and Science here on Friday. “That would be a tragedy we must not allow,” he said.

Omar said that despite living close to Dachigam National Park , he had never seen a hangul. “But at least in my lifetime I know they are there,” he said. The hangul is now largely confined to Dachigam National Park in Srinagar’s Harwan area. Their population had shrunk to just 127 in 2008. However, the hangul census of 2023 showed their population rising to 289. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified the species as critically endangered.

The CM said his government would act promptly on the recommendations of the Second International Conference on Hangul protection. “My hope is that when we meet here next time, the population of hangul and markhor (a wild goat species) will have grown significantly,” Omar said.

The three-day event at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture and Science was attended by more than 200 delegates, including eminent wildlife experts, conservationists, and biologists from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, who shared research and strategies for conserving the hangul, markhor and other threatened ungulates of the Himalayan region.