Col Satish Singh Lalotra
‘Somebody said that writers are like otters-otters ,if they do a trick and you give them a fish, the next time they will do a better trick or a different trick because they’d already done that’-Neil Gaiman.
Nothing can be more exhilarating and assuring in action for wild life enthusiasts the world over than to stumble around the fact that one of the most elusive species which they had almost given up hope of their revivalism has suddenly made up its presence felt in an area hitherto considered a typical ‘No-go’. Something of a similar nature has happened in one of the northernmost areas of Jammu& Kashmir i.e ‘Gurez Valley’. River Kishan Ganga which meanders its way through the Gurez valley is considered less of a natural resource for the area and more as kaleidoscopic reflection of the cultural cum environmental ethos that registers its presence in the very sinews of the masses inhabiting this pristine location. Of recent interest is the sudden appearance of the ‘Eurasian otter’ in the frigid gurgling waters of R.Kishan Ganga which has sent a wave of excitement and anticipation in the wild life enthusiasts and experts of the area who keep their eyes and ears close to the ground for such happenings. In one of the video footages recorded by a local of village ‘Markoot’ abutting the LOC offers a rare glimpse into this species that had seemingly vanished from almost all the waterways of Kashmir valley for the past few decades.
This official confirmation of sightings of Eurasian otter in KishanGanga river by one of the residents of Gurez valley took my mind back to the early 2003 while I was posted at Badaub ( Tilel/ Gurez) while in service and used to hear tales of vanished wild life species from the locals of the area that were once the ‘sine quo non’ of the region. Otters are carnivorous mammals belonging to the ‘Museltide’ family that includes weasels, badgers, minks etc. They are one of the top predators found in river ecosystems of the country. The best part of this rare video that has been captured by the local of Gurez valley is that the otters three ( 3) in number are found gorging on ‘Rainbow trout’ in the Kishan Ganga river. Rainbow trout is one of the several trout fishes which along with lots of other trout varieties are an angler’s paradise. Much about it later in this article. The fact that these carnivorous otters have made a surreptitious comeback after so many years points to the fragile nature of the aquatic ecosystem that had been torn asunder by myriad facets viz dereliction of duties who were supposed to protect the same, rampant hunting expeditions undertaken by all and sundry including during the Dogra rule when this area was a designated ‘SHIKARGAH’ Hunting ground of the royalties, as also the latest environmental degradation undertaken by unbridled tourism. But at the same time the reappearance of these carnivorous otters are a pointer to the effect that there has been a relative improvement in the overall ecosystem that supports the thriving / sustainability of such an endangered species.
In fact two years back few otters were spotted near ‘Tragbal’ in Gurez. Now Tragbal is the place that announces to a new comer or traveller the opening of the Gurez funnel , and sightings of these otters signifies the realization that these otters are now more or less rampaging the length and breadth of river Kishan Ganga making their range of existence visible much beyond Markoot. It would be worth mentioning in this write up a little bit of geographical spread of this watery carnivore in the waterways of erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir which will lend credence to the fact that how much a clean and unfettered environment goes to support this nearly extinct species of otters. The presence of otters in the upper Indus river valley of Ladakh has only been reported anecdotally till date. Anecdotal records by eminent scientists cum environmentalists report the occurrences of the Eurasian otter in the cold desert of Ladakh with the Indus and its tributaries, lower Zanskar and Rumtse rivers as well as in the Suru and Dras river valleys in the Kargil areas up to 3,500 m ASL. Conversations with the locals and otter scientists revealed that otters historically occupied the upper Indus, but possibly had been extirpated. Locally known as ‘Chusham’ in Ladakh and ‘Chustam’ in Kargil , the Eurasian otter is said to be nocturnal and may migrate to lower elevations in the winters. Locals of this area readily recognize a description of the animal, but few reported sighting an otter in the recent years. As a consequence the otter has not been a species of concern for management agencies, and therefore not offered the same conservation attention afforded to other charismatic fauna such as the snow leopard. Otter populations are declining throughout Asia and the Himalayan region, subject to human pressure on water resources, fragmentation of habitat and illegal pelt trade.
Otters are sensitive to habitat characteristics, preferring sites with vegetation or large boulders for protecting nesting sites, sandy beaches, or vegetation for rolling and drying and large flat rocks near the waterline on which they consume their prey. Be that as it may, the biggest problem which otters presently face is that of rapid spread of tourism and its concomitant effects in the KG ( Kishan Ganga ) basin. With the UT government bent upon introducing border area tourism in frontier areas like Gurez, the otter has suddenly found rampant garbage/ muck, pollution of water ways and such like remains of tourism as a direct threat to its sustainability. Along with this problem of unbridled tourism in Gurez valley has been shrinking of its traditional prey i.e the world famous ‘Trout fish’ which too has been at the short end of the stick in so far as this fish’s conservation goes. While I was in Gurez valley about two decades back, though there was nothing known as border area tourism impacting the traditional prey of these otters, but then most of these trout fishes were found to be suffering from eye and fungal disease , since as per the fisheries department of J&K no stocking of trout fishes had undertaken as long as their official records went. This was not the case in almost all world famous trout catchment areas. Blame it on sheer indifference of Jammu& Kashmir’s fishery department or just flaccid response to an emerging situation, theconservation efforts of Jammu & Kashmir just falls short of sustaining these rare carnivorous mammals. Unless the water bodies or waterways in the UT are driven focused with all the attention they deserve from the higher ups in methods of conservation , this spotting of otters at Tragbal and Markoot in Gurez valley may be just a short lived bubble of enthusiasm which willy nilly may explode under the weight of its inertia. Actually the spotting of these otters in recent times is just a wakeup call for all of us that though we as human beings have not left any stone unturned in nailing the very existence of them, it’s never too late to mend our ways and listen to the voice of the voiceless. The sooner the better.
(The writer is a retired army officer.)
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