Man-animal conflict: Pauri bears the brunt during winter season

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 5

Come winter and man-animal conflict turns to worst in the state with Pauri Garhwal district the major sufferer.

Pauri district has six forest ranges. Out of these, the Pokhra, Pauri and Damdaval areas are the worst affected due to man-leopard conflicts. From 2012 till today, at least 22 persons have died in leopard attack incidents in the Garhwal forest division alone.

In May this year, the Ekeshwar block of the Damdaval forest range witnessed a series of killings by leopards. Scared residents even stopped sending their children to schools. Many women left visiting the forests to collect firewood.

Considering the case of Pauri, the Wildlife Institute of India had long back initiated a study to assess the level of the human-leopard conflict in the district. The report had attributed the existence of high-conflict zones in Pauri district, primarily due to the rise in human habitations and domination of high scrub.

High scrub helps free movement and provide conducive habitat for easy attack on human or livestock. The WII has strongly advocated area-specific wildlife management plans to mitigate human-leopard conflicts.

Wildlife expert AK Singh said the declining prey base in the forests was also one of the reasons behind leopards taking to human habitations. He said with leopard prey base like deer and wild boar also facing conservation challenges due to poaching, thus leopards were turning to human settlements in search of easy prey like dogs and other domestic animals like livestock.

According to various studies, leopards visit fields and human habitations not for attacking the humans but for livestock as prey. Predating the livestock is comparatively easy for leopard. Thus, the scarcity of wild prey species and looking for easy prey leads to attack on human or livestock.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Srikant Chandola admits that curbing man-leopard conflict was a big challenge for the state forest authorities. He, however, said besides other measures, the Forest Department was ensuring that least compensation amount in case of loss of human life or livestock reached the victims immediately.