Breeding of foxes, jackals to tackle leopard menace

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 26

Uttarakhand has come up with a novice method to counter the leopard menace that results in several deaths every year.

Chief Minister Harish Rawat has mooted breeding of foxes and jackals in village areas. He says these animals give warning signals to people in case a leopard comes close to human habitations.

Rawat chaired at a meeting in Dehradun today to curb the rising number of human casualties in leopard attacks.

He said multiple steps should be taken to check such incidents. He called upon officials to encourage villagers to domesticating more dogs.

He said toilets must also be constructed in village areas that are in close proximity to forests so that people did not go to forests to relieve themselves and become easy prey for man-eater leopards.

He told the Forest Department to take up work for clearing bushes that were in close proximity to houses and make adequate light arrangements. He said hunters should be arranged for shooting down wild pigs as the animal has a habit of damaging crops.

The Chief Minister said the menace of leopard, wild pig and monkey in hilly areas was the major factor that villagers were shunning agriculture and migrating to cities.

Rawat also suggested planting of fruit trees inside the forest areas so that wild animals may get food within the forests.

Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh, Additional Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy and senior forest officials attended the meeting