Rarely seen Himalayan serow spotted in Himachal's Spiti Valley

Shimla: The near threatened and rarely seen Himalayan serow, a goat antelope, has been sighted and captured in a camera by the state wildlife wing in Himachal Pradesh's remote Spiti Valley for the first time, officials said on Saturday.

The place of sighting is close to the Indo-Tibetan border.

Earlier, Himalayan serow sighting in the state was reported from the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), a Unesco World Heritage site in Kullu district, in 2018. At that time, it was caught on a camera trap laid by the park authorities in the Sainj side.

Chief Wildlife Warden Archana Sharma said the Himalayan serow was sighted in Hurling area of Spiti.

GHNP Deputy Ranger Roshan Lal Chaudhary told IANS that the sighting of the Himalayan serow in the nature is very rare.

"It is an extremely shy animal and its habitat is dense forests. Only in winter its sighting in the GHNP is possible when it migrates to lower elevations," he said.

Chaudhary said one could encounter signs of serow like pellets, resting places and footmarks, but it is almost impossible to spot the animal.

"In 2018 only once its sighting was recorded in a camera trap installed in the GHNP," he said.