The forest department will form more rapid response teams comprising trained personnel dedicated full time to responding to human-wildlife conflict scenarios. The principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Jairaj said this while speaking at a workshop for media persons on the human-leopard conflict in Uttarakhand.
Addressing media persons, the PCCF said that the department would form four to five new rapid response teams of trained and equipped personnel who would be mobile and dedicated full time to addressing human-wildlife conflict situations.
The proposal already submitted by the department to the state administration for increasing the compensation for next of kin of those killed in human wildlife conflict from Rs3,00,000 to Rs5,00,000 would be pursued effectively. Further, the department will open new monkey sterilisation centres at Ranibagh in Nainital district and at Almora to mitigate the human-simian conflict. Referring to reporting on human-wildlife conflict Jairaj opined that journalists should focus on factual reporting which is not influenced by personal opinion. "I would also request you to consider the situation the wild animals are in. With their attitude and activities, the humans have created difficult conditions for wildlife. For example, the roads we have built and the traffic on them act as barriers preventing elephants from following their traditional routes exacerbating the problems being faced by pachyderms," he said.
Chief wildlife warden DVS Khati said that in the past his office used to receive requests for declaring leopards 'man-eaters' quite often whereas now the frequency of such requests has decreased considerably. Additional PCCF Dhananjai Mohan spoke about the work undertaken by the department in collaboration with Maharashtra forest department in the Pauri and Tehri districts to tackle the human-leopard conflict. Tehri divisional forest officer Koko Rose said that apart from forming and training a rapid response team, raising public awareness especially through the media had helped tackle aspects of the conflict scenario. Problems like improper garbage disposal attracting stray dogs preyed upon by leopards and lack of lighting which increases risk of leopard attack are being addressed effectively in the area by raising public awareness and through the media, he added. Sanjay Sondhi of Titli Trust spoke of the various measures undertaken in Uttarakhand for addressing the human-leopard conflict like publication of a booklet 'Busting Myths about leopards' which was released by department officials at the workshop. Journalist Virat Singh from Mumbai shared his experience of reporting on the human-leopard conflict.