KATHMANDU, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Blackbuck, an endangered antelope species also known as Krishnasar, has been successfully translocated in Nepal's Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, World Wildlife Fund said in a newsletter released Monday.
Scientifically named as Antilope Cervicapra, the species range has been in a sharp decline during the 20th century.
According to WWF-Nepal, the translocation was carried out in order to establish a viable wild population of blackbuck in Nepal.
The shifting of the endangered antelope was carried out by Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, National Trust for Nature Conservation and the USAID funded Hariyo Ban Program.
The Krishnasar is found in the wild in Nepal in only one place - - Khairapur, Bardia.
The newsletter said, "19 blackbucks were first recorded in Bardia in 1975. To ensure the survival of this population in 2009 the Government of Nepal declared an area of 172 hectares as the Krishnasar Conservation Area. Today conservation efforts have helped the blackbuck population to increase to 293."
"Yet, this only surviving wild population is at great risk due to habitat fragmentation; disease from livestock -- as their habitat area is interspersed with human settlements and farmland; and inbreeding as this isolated population grew from only a few individuals."
There are future plans to translocate more blackbucks in the new settlement where there is a larger and better habitat for the species, Ganga Jang Thapa of National Trust for Nature Conservation said.
"The relocated blackbucks have adapted well to the environment and their health looks good. We need to expand the fenced area in the near future for better survival of these blackbucks."
The Government of Nepal in collaboration with WWF and other donor agencies aims to involve local communities in conservation and promoting the wildlife reserve as an eco-tourism site, an official at Department of National Park said.
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