Bhubaneswar: The forest department’s wildlife wing on Tuesday introduced blackbuck popular as ‘bali harina’ at Balukhand wildlife sanctuary in Puri district. The animal had become extinct in the sanctuary.
The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has approved the blackbuck introduction programme.
“We are bringing 25 blackbucks from Nandankanan and six from Betonati to be released in Balukhand,” said Susanta Nanda, principal chief conservator of forests, wildlife.
Ganjam is the only district in the state where more than 3,000 blackbucks are found. After Ganjam, Balukhand was the second biggest blackbuck habitat. Due to natural calamities, the blackbuck population started to dwindle and then got completely extinct.
In 2016, the wildlife wing had plans to relocate some blackbuck from Ganjam to Balukhand sanctuary but the project couldn’t take off. The revival plan then was to introduce two males and six female blackbucks in Balukhand.
Apart from natural calamities, construction activities near the habitat, depletion of meadow, hunting by stray dogs, poaching and road accidents led to the extinction of blackbucks.
The blackbucks prefer grassy and plain land with less dense forest. They also prefer habitat which has a lot of water sources.

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