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BNHS Sterilises 2,950 Free-Ranging Dogs to Protect Ladakh's Black-necked Cranes — UPSC Current Affairs 2026

Environment15 Aug 2026

BNHS Sterilises 2,950 Free-Ranging Dogs to Protect Ladakh's Black-necked Cranes

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1
The Bombay Natural History Society has sterilised over 2,950 free-ranging dogs in Ladakh since 2022 to curb predation on the Black-necked Crane, whose chicks and nests were being attacked in alpine wetlands.
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The work was carried out with the Indian Army, the Animal Husbandry Department and the Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment.
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The Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) is the State Bird of Ladakh and the only one of the world's 15 crane species that breeds exclusively at high altitude.
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Fewer than 100 individuals are estimated to survive in India, out of a global population of roughly 15,000.
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It is Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, listed in CITES Appendix I and in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

●Species: Black-necked Crane, Grus nigricollis. State Bird of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
●Known locally as cha thung-thung in Ladakh and thungdung karma in Arunachal Pradesh.
●Conservation status: IUCN Near Threatened; CITES Appendix I; Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 Schedule I.
●Range countries: India, China, Bhutan and Nepal.
●Intervention: over 2,950 free-ranging dogs sterilised in Ladakh since 2022.
●Lead organisation: Bombay Natural History Society, working with the Indian Army, the Animal Husbandry Department and the Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment.

The crane builds a mound nest surrounded by shallow water or mudflat, a design that keeps terrestrial predators at a distance. Free-ranging dogs defeat it. They take chicks directly, and — as damaging over a breeding season — their presence prevents pairs from settling at a nesting site at all, so the disturbance costs more nests than the predation does. The dogs are not a wilderness phenomenon: their numbers in Ladakh track the availability of anthropogenic food subsidies, chiefly unmanaged kitchen waste and refuse from settlements, tourist establishments and institutional messes. That is why sterilisation is paired with waste management in the response, and why the Indian Army, which maintains large establishments across Ladakh, is a partner rather than a bystander. The crane itself is slow to recover from losses — pairs mate for life, defend breeding territories aggressively, and raise very few young.

In India the Black-necked Crane breeds in eastern Ladakh, principally within the Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary — the wetlands of Hanle, Tso Kar, Nyoma and adjacent marshes. Tso Kar, a high-altitude wetland complex and a Ramsar site (India's 42nd, and one of Ladakh's two along with Tsomoriri), is the single most important breeding area for the species in India. A small wintering population occurs in the Sangti and Zimithang valleys of Arunachal Pradesh. Outside India it is found on the Tibetan Plateau — Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu — and in Sichuan in China, and winters in Bhutan's Phobjikha and Bumdeling valleys. Breeding takes place between 2,600 and 4,900 metres above sea level; wintering grounds lie lower, between roughly 1,900 and 3,800 metres.

location_onChangthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuarylocation_onHanlelocation_onTso Karlocation_onNyomalocation_onTsomoririlocation_onSangti Valleylocation_onZimithang Valleylocation_onPhobjikha Valleylocation_onTibetan Plateau

●Plumage: whitish-grey to ashen-grey body, jet-black head and upper neck, black tail and legs, a bare red crown and a small white patch behind each eye.
●The only crane in the world that completes its entire breeding cycle in high-altitude Trans-Himalayan and Tibetan wetlands.
●Pairs mate for life and perform synchronised trumpeting duets to defend territory.
●Omnivorous: sedge tubers, plant roots, aquatic grasses and post-harvest grain such as barley and buckwheat, plus insects, earthworms, small fish and frogs.
●Revered as a symbol of peace, longevity and good fortune in Ladakhi and Bhutanese Buddhist tradition.

The crane is an indicator species for high-altitude wetlands. Where it breeds successfully, the alpine bog and marsh system beneath it is functioning — and those same wetlands are the freshwater source and the summer pasture for Changthang's pastoral communities and their livestock. Protecting the bird therefore protects a water and livelihood system, not merely a species. The threats named for it are the ordinary threats of development at altitude: expanding human use around wetlands, linear infrastructure such as roads and transmission lines, rising tourism, habitat degradation and climate change. A sterilisation drive addresses one proximate cause; none of the others is touched by it.

Exam Relevance

upsc

GS Paper III > Conservation, biodiversity; GS Paper I > Physical geography of India — Trans-Himalaya

ssc

General Awareness > Environment and biodiversity

railway

General Awareness > Wildlife and protected areas

Expected Questions

★Free-ranging dogs are increasingly recognised as a driver of wildlife decline in India. Examine with reference to high-altitude ecosystems.
★Prelims pattern: Which protected area is the principal breeding ground of the Black-necked Crane in India?

Key Terms

Free-ranging dog (FRD)

An unconfined domestic dog living wholly or partly on human-generated food, with unrestricted access to wildlife habitat.

Anthropogenic food subsidy

Human-generated food waste that artificially inflates the population of a predator or scavenger beyond what the natural prey base would support.

Indicator species

A species whose condition reflects the health of the wider ecosystem it inhabits.

priority_highMust Remember

•Grus nigricollis — State Bird of Ladakh; only exclusively high-altitude breeder among the world's 15 crane species.
•IUCN Near Threatened; CITES Appendix I; WPA 1972 Schedule I.
•Fewer than 100 in India; global population about 15,000.
•Breeds 2,600-4,900 m, chiefly in Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary (Hanle, Tso Kar, Nyoma); winters in Sangti and Zimithang valleys, Arunachal Pradesh.
•Ladakh's two Ramsar sites are Tso Kar and Tsomoriri.

tips_and_updatesExam Tips

•Do not confuse the Black-necked Crane (Near Threatened, breeds in India) with the Siberian Crane (Critically Endangered, a winter visitor no longer recorded at Keoladeo) or the Sarus Crane (Vulnerable, the world's tallest flying bird and State Bird of Uttar Pradesh).

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The Black-necked Crane is the State Bird of which Union Territory?

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BNHS Sterilises 2,950 Free-Ranging Dogs to Protect Ladakh's Black-necked Cranes

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The Black-necked Crane is the State Bird of which Union Territory?

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