Man-Animal conflict on rise in Kashmir

Date:

Over 25 people killed in 3 years, wild animals kill 5 minors in Uri since June

Ishtiyaq Ahmad

Srinagar Sep 26 : There is a rise in man-animal conflict as over 25 people have been killed for the last three years across Kashmir.

The fresh incidents have come to the fore from North Kashmir’s Uri area where five minors have been killed by wild animals since June this year which has created a fear among locals.

Official figures accessed by news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS) reveal that at least 25 people have been killed by wild animals in the last three years. Among them 11, 5 and 9 were killed in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Similarly, over 430 people have also been injured by wild animals in several incidents across the valley for five years. Those include 120 in 2017 while 85, 87, and 57 in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

This year too there is no end to such incidents. In Uri area of North Kashmir alone, five minors have been killed by wild animals which has reign a terror in the area.

An official of the Wild Life Department said that mass urbanization, denudation of forests, encroachment of forestland, vanishing of buffer zones in the forests are some of the reasons responsible for conflicts between humans and animals.

“Animals do not feel safe in the forest so they are entering residential areas,” the official said.

“Leopards stray into residential areas usually in search of food. The human presence makes them insecure, following which they resort to attacking people,” the official told news agency KINS.

The wildlife department has made several sightings of wild animals in lower areas. Leopards have also been found close to human habitats even in Srinagar’s Jawahar Nagar area in the recent past.

When animals descend into lower areas, there are chances of their interaction with human inhabitants. This, at times, creates man-animal conflict.

Perturbed over the incidents of the man-animal conflicts, the Wild Life Department has asked people residing near forests to take extraordinary precautions.

In the advisory issued several times, the Department has asked people to avoid using bush growths and forest fringe areas for nature calls in late evening or night hours.

“Provide sufficient light around your utilities outside your home so that animals do not feel safe in the vicinity. The villagers must regularly remove all bushes or shrubs from the vicinity of houses in cooperative manner,” it adds.

“Do not chase or try to go near a wild animal if sighted from a distance. Provide sufficient light around your utilities outside home so that animals do not feel safe in the vicinity. Children and women are vulnerable to leopards. Bear attacks, which can be contained if they move in groups or children are accompanied by an elderly person,” the advisory reads.

For Uri area, the Wildlife Department has issued an advisory asking people not to move alone in the forest areas of Uri.

“The children and women need to take extra measures. The children should be accompanied by elders and always move on a regular forest path and avoid shortcuts,” the advisory reads.

It reads that people of the area should avoid going to forests, especially during mornings and evenings as it is peak activity time for the leopards.

“Avoid chasing wild animals if sighted from a distance in the forest area,” the advisory reads.

It has been suggested in the advisory that livestock taken to pastures inside forests or near crop fields should be attended to by more than three persons and some type of bell or sound-producing device should be tied around the neck of a few cattle. (KINS)

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