Bhubaneswar: Black bucks have found a haven in the Betnai-Balipadar area of Ganjam district where their population has seen a rapid growth.

During the last count in March 2015, the number of these animals, which are found almost exclusively in Ganjam, stood at 3,806 - an increase of 1,625 compared to the 2011 census. "The growth rate has been around 20 per cent," said Ghumsar south divisional forest officer Bijay Ketan Acharya.

Also known as the Indian antelope and locally called krushnasaar mruga, these animals are treated almost reverentially by the residents of around 14 villages in the Betnai-Balipadar belt. "Apart from the fact that forest officials and the villagers have joined hands to protect them, another major factor contributing to the rise in their population is the absence of predators such as tigers in this belt," said Acharya.

The growth in their population has been so fast that it is beginning to cause management problems for forest officials. "Sometimes they destroy standing crops, which may become a provocation for the people to harm them. However, nothing of that sort has happened so far as they are considered to be a good luck omen," said Acharya, adding that black bucks were now also migrating to other areas of Ganjam such as Polsara and Bhanjanagar.

Sources said that at some villages of Betnai and Baipadar, people have given up farming following the depredation caused by these animals. "They eat and destroy standing crops. So, some people let their land remain fallow. Though no one has harmed them as yet, there is a need to develop a sustainable model for black buck conservation," said a forest official.