Man-animal conflicts rise in winter months

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 22

Uttarakhand continues to face winter wildlife challenges year after year. Man-animal conflict turns to worse during winter months and the highest number of these incidents involve leopards attacking humans.

Forest predominant Uttarakhand has a population of about 2,000 leopards as per the last census. Shrinking habitat and rising population of leopard has made this animal come into direct conflict with humans.

In 2010, 9 persons were killed and 12 injured in leopard attacks across the state. Year 2011 was the worst with leopards killing 16 persons and injuring 14 at various places. Six persons again died in 2012 while four were injured in leopard attacks. In 2013, 8 persons died and 12 were injured in leopard attack incidents. In just ended 2014, 16 persons died while a staggering 23 persons were injured in leopard attack cases. And even in January 2015, two persons have been mauled by leopards. This includes one incident in Dehradun and another at Almora.

The Uttarkhand Forest Department finds itself helpless in containing these rising man leopard conflict incidents. Leave apart hilly areas of the state, even the capital Dehradun, which is most populous region of the state, is suffering the leopard menace. Leopard sightings have become very common in village areas of Dehradun and forest authorities have been finding it very difficult to locate these marauding leopards, who are choosing their human prey at their own will.

Even in the case of recent Dehradun incident, where a 10-year old boy was killed by a leopard in Bajawala area of Dehradun, forest officials are still grouping the dark despite deployment of a team of hunters and are still to gun down the man eater.

Hunter Lakhpat Singh Rawat, who has shot dead a large number of man eater leopards across the state expresses concern over man leopard conflict rising to alarming proportions in Uttarakhand. He did not rule out rising population of leopard as the reason behind this cat species coming into direct conflict with humans.

Interestingly, few years back, state forest authorities had come out with an idea of increasing prey base in the forest areas so as to limit leopards into forests. State forest department had planned to come up with water holes in the forest areas and ensure proper feed for herbivorous animals inside forests that were the main prey base of the leopards.

“Forest officials are of the view that increase in fodder availability will ensure better food for herbivorous animals like deer and a subsequent rise in their population will ultimately provide more number of prey to leopards,” said Wildlife Protection Society of India’s Rajendra Agrawal. He however asserted that the plan was still to see the light of the day even as man-leopard conflict continues to be on the rise in the state.