J&K’s first wildlife research centre at Dachigam National Park in final stages of completion

SRINAGAR: The wildlife research-cum-training centre being established at Dachigam National Park in Jammu and Kashmir is in the final stages of completion.

The centre will be a residential campus and will have researchers who will study various aspects of wildlife.

“Our aim is to train researchers and conduct research in the field of wildlife at one centre. It will be a residential campus. They will have all the required resources here including books and internet,” said Dr Umer Nazir, a wildlife veterinarian.

Further elaborating on the plans of increasing the knowledge pool of researchers, he said, “We are planning to get resource persons from outside to impart training to the researchers on various topics of importance.”

Dachigam National Park is one of the most popular wildlife sanctuaries of Jammu and Kashmir as it is a home to different species, especially Hangul – a Kashmiri Stag, Leopards, Himalayan Black Bear and a number of birds.

The wildlife authorities have converted a six decades-old building, that earlier belonged to a sheep farm, into a research centre.

“We have restored a heritage building into an important centre to preserve it,” Dr Nazir said.

Khurshid Ahmad, an employee of Dachigam National Park, appreciated the step taken by the authorities.

“It will serve as a very good place for people who wish to conduct research and even students who want to undertake research work. There was no training institute here before this. It was important to set up one,” said Ahmad.

Shabir Hussain, another employee at the national park, also lauded the initiative and said, “Wildlife is a very vast subject. It will bring about a lot of learning about the subject. It will be of benefit to the researchers who come here. Even doctors and employees will be able to learn a lot. Establishing this centre is a big step.”

As per the authorities of the Dachigam National Park, the centre will be open for researchers after the Covid-19 situation improves in the union territory.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)