Man-animal conflicts are common in various parts of the country. Incidents of man-animal conflict are reported from States/Union Territories of the country. In India, wild elephants probably kill far more people than tiger, leopard or lion. But, surprisingly, human conflict involving leopard draws great amount of public attention compared to other animals. Other carnivores – tigers, lions and wolves which have been known for causing a large number of human deaths in the past, are now mostly restricted in range and their impact is not as widespread as that of the leopard. The
Government supplements the financial resources available with the States/ Union Territory Governments for the purpose by providing limited funds under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of ‘Project Tiger’, ‘Project Elephant’ and ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’. Animals like elephant, tiger, leopard, wild dog, monkey, wild boar; Nilgai, bear, sambar deer etc. are major animals involved in human-animal conflict in India.
Major Causes for Human and wild animal struggle are:-
- Deforestation
- Forest Encroachment
- Forest Fires
- Loss of Habitat
- Decline in Prey
- Injured or Old Animal
- Growing Human Population
The Government has initiated a number of steps in this regard including the following:
- Providing assistance to State Governments for improvement of habitat to augment food and water availability and toreduce movement of animals from the forests to the habitations.
- Encouraging State Governments for creation of a network of Protected Areas and wildlife corridors for conservation of wildlife.
- Awareness programmes to sensitize the people about the Do’s and Don’ts to minimize conflicts.
- Training programmes for forest staff and police to address the problems of human-wildlife conflicts.
- Issuance of guidelines to the State Governments for management of human-leopard conflict.
- Providing technical and financial support for development of necessary infrastructure and support facilities for immobilization of problematic animals through tranquilization, their translocation to the rescuecentresor release back to the natural habitats.
- Providing assistance to State Governments for construction of boundary walls and solar fences around the sensitive areas to prevent the wild animal attacks.
- Supplementing State Government resources for payment of ex-gratiato the people for injuries and loss of life in case of wild animal attacks.
- Empowering the Chief Wildlife Warden of the State/Union Territories to permit hunting of such problematic animals under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Providing assistance to the State Governments for eco-development activities in villages around Protected Areas to elicit cooperation of local community in management of the Protected Areas.
- Providing assistance to the State Governments for eco-development activities in villages around Protected Areas to elicit cooperation of local community in management of the Protected Areas.
- Encouraging and supporting involvement of the research and academic institutions and leading voluntary organizations having expertise in managing human -wildlife conflict situations.
Source: PIB