540 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



. . . , once seen in the C[entral] Provinces], are now a mere 

 tradition" (Anonymous, 1933, p. 31). 



"The sparsely populated south [of the vast tract of Vizagapatam 

 and Jeypore] is the only place in the Madras Presidency where 

 the buffalo is found" (Richmond, 1935, p. 221). 



In Madras "fears are entertained for the existence of the Buffalo. 

 Found in any numbers only in the Government Reserved Forests. 

 In these nothing may be shot except under licence." (Chief Con- 

 servator of Forests, Madras, in Hit., November, 1936.) 



In Hyderabad State "a few buffalo are said to occur in the Eturna- 

 garam Range of the Mulug Taluka (Warangal District) but their 

 numbers are very small. The shooting of buffalo and gaur has been 

 totally prohibited for some years past, owing to which they have, 

 for the time being, been saved from extinction." (Salim Ali, 1935, 

 p. 231.) 



The Chief Conservator of Forests of the Central Provinces 

 writes (in litt., July, 1937) : 



"This animal has evidently never existed in the majority of the 

 Central Provinces forests area as it demands large grassy plains 

 with plentiful water supply. . . . The past distribution was prob- 

 ably based on the present one viz. the south-east portion of the 

 Central Provinces. Their western limits are the Feudatory States, 

 just east and north-east of Balaghat District. From these states, 

 Buffalo have always occasionally wandered into the Balaghat Dis- 

 trict and the Banjar Valley of the Mandla District. From North 

 Raipur Division down to Bastar State is another locality holding 

 Buffalo. At present a few survivors of the herds which formerly 

 ranged in both Chanda and South Chanda exist in South Chanda. 

 The Buffalo have within the last 40 years disappeared from the 

 Zamindari areas north of Balispur as from many other tracts. . . . 



"The causes of depletion (and extinction in many localities) 

 are the former slaughter (with poisoned arrows) by the aboriginal 

 population for the sake of the hides (which became saleable when 

 the country was even slightly opened up) , the spread of cultiva- 

 tion in the comparatively few areas suitable for them and of 

 epidemic disease (to which they are as liable as the domestic cattle 

 with whom they not infrequently associate). 



"Hides and meat are saleable. 



"Protection of this species in the Government forests has been 

 rigid in the past and still is. In some districts total prohibition 

 has been in force for several years. . . . The prohibition . . . 

 has saved the few remaining herds, the survival of which now 

 depends on the ability of the species to recover from epidemic 

 diseases." 



