Endangered barasingha deer pass 300 in India's Satpura reserve a decade after their return

The endangered hard-ground barasingha, a swamp deer that had disappeared from Satpura Tiger Reserve in central India, has grown to a population of about 303 animals a decade after it was brought back, The Times of India reported, citing the Madhya Pradesh forest department.

135 deer moved from Kanha became a breeding population

The hard-ground barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi) had vanished from the Satpura landscape because of habitat loss and hunting, leaving Kanha Tiger Reserve as its main stronghold. In 2015 the forest department began moving animals from Kanha to Satpura, and about 135 were translocated between 2015 and 2026.

The deer were first kept in a predator-proof enclosure in the Bori area so they could settle and breed before release. Officials say successive generations have since been born in Satpura, and the animals now form three population units: in the Bori enclosure, the Bori grasslands and the Malini grasslands in the Churna range.

“The establishment of a breeding population of more than 300 barasingha and three meta populations is one of the most encouraging examples of successful wildlife reintroduction in the country.” — Rakhi Nanda, Field Director, Satpura Tiger Reserve

Nanda credited frontline staff, scientists and communities that voluntarily moved out of their ancestral villages to make space for wildlife.

Corridors will link at least six grasslands

With the herd past 300, managers now plan corridors linking at least six grasslands, so the deer can move between feeding and breeding areas and populations can mix genetically. That will require mapping safe routes, managing the land between grasslands and monitoring how the animals move.

A second population reduces the risk of relying on Kanha alone. Reintroductions are bringing other species back to Indian reserves too, such as the first tigress released into Buxa Tiger Reserve.