​#BhediyaMitraGram: The Wolf Corridor Project

Historically, a critical wildlife corridor existed in Gujarat, allowing wolves to travel from Velavadar
National Park to Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary and onwards to the Little Rann of Kutch Wildlife
Sanctuary. This corridor passed through Bhavnagar, Botad, and Surendranagar districts,
utilizing common grazing lands known as Gouchar lands. Unfortunately, the wolf populations in
this region were extirpated around ten years ago due to predation on livestock, primarily sheep
and goats, belonging to the local Maldhari community.

Since then. the Maldhari community, traditionally pastoralists, have shifted from livestock rearing to settled landholding agriculture, cultivating staple crops. This significant land-use change, unfortunately, coincided with the eradication of wolves. As a result, the populations of blue-bull and other ungulates in the region have allegedly surged, causing substantial damage to the agricultural yields of the now farming Maldhari community. Therefore, the absence of wolves, who naturally controlled the ungulate populations, has led to an economic downturn for these farmers due to crop losses.

Given this scenario, reviving the village common land habitat, and educating communities on the agriculture related economic benefits of having migrating wolves as natural predators can restore the ecological balance, benefit the agricultural economy, and revive the wolf corridor. This might also help keep genetic pools of the local wolf population healthy and diverse.

 

Communicating this change in perspective to the local community is crucial. Wolves, once considered adversaries, can now be seen as economic allies. The project aims to do just about this in the landscape in an attempt to revive the wolf corridor and restore common lands to the well functional scrublands and grasslands they once were. ​​