It’s not whether animals will survive, it’s whether man has the will to save them.
This famous quote by an animal rights activist aptly points out how humans have a great responsibility to protect the animals, at a time when the frequency of man-animal conflict is increasing in tandem with rising human population across the globe.
The urban city of Chandigarh, with a geographical area of approximately 140 sq km is now also witnessing growing cases of human-animal conflict, which often result in panic and bloodshed.
Chandigarh, which is a joint capital of two neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana and also shares borders with them, has a protected area—Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, spreading over an area of 26 sq km of forest land spanning the plains at the foot of the Shivalik Hills. Among other forest areas in the city include Lake Reserve Forests and Patiala-Ki-Rao Forests.
Last year in November, the shocking pictures of a Sambar, lying in a pool of blood and crying for help after being hit by a vehicle at Sector 3/4/9/10 roundabout here had brought alive the debate on the issue of human-animal conflict in the city.
Following the death of the Sambar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had even taken suo moto cognizance on the fatal lapses in ensuring animal safety in the city and had issued directions to initiate steps in this regard.
Almost ten months after the incident, the UT Forest and Wildlife Department has now put up signboards to caution people, constituted task force, have launched dedicated man-animal conflict helpline, procured dedicated vehicle equipped with various facilities to attend and transport injured animals among various initiatives.
Still, a lot needs to be done to understand as well as mitigate the cases of human-animal conflict in the city.
The data with the UT Forest and Wildlife Department suggests that the conflict with humans have killed more than 30 animals on the city roads in the past one year. The fatalities included Nilgai, Sambars, Peacocks, Porcupines among other animals.
Only last week, an injured Nilgai was brought to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals premises at Sector 38 here. The hind limbs of Nilgai were injured after being hit by a vehicle and the animal had died two days after the accident.
Earlier this year, a Sambar had strayed into busy market streets of Sector 22 prompting a rescue effort that sadly had also ended with the animal’s death.
As per the statistics with the UT Forests and Wildlife Department, there are 9 species of mammals and 63 species of birds in the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary. Sambars in the Sanctuary were estimated between 1000 to 1200 while peafowl were between 900-100 in a census exercise conducted nearly a decade back.
Leopard, Sambar, Spotted Dear (Chittal), Pangolin (ant eater), wild board, Jackal, Small Indian Civet, Jungle Cat, Porcupine, Langure, Rhesus Money, Indian Hare, Common Mongoose among other mammals are the inhabitants of the sanctuary.
The wildlife experts feel that while there is enough food in the Sanctuary here, the animals often venture close to human habitations due to the absence of fencing at some places to restrict their movement to the forests areas.
Also, in the absence of permanent predators in the Sanctuary, the population of large herbivore –Sambar is increasing rapidly. Given the high population of Sambars in the forest area, the cases of their intrusion into human settlements have increased in the recent past, the wildlife experts say.
The first ever wildlife census conducted in the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary in 2010 had revealed that as per the average, the group size of Sambhar in the Sanctuary was between 3.39 to 10.07, which is higher than any other protected area in the country.
SPCA Inspector Dharminder Dogra tells, “Most of the cases in SPCA hospital are related to big animals like cows, Sambar, Nilgai and even dogs getting injured after being hit by a vehicle.
“Eagles and other raptors get injured due to kite strings. We have also received cases where Peacocks got injured after being hit by a vehicle or attacked by a dog,” he says.
Wild animals Sambar and Nilgai usually die due to severe injuries or sometimes, due to shock during their treatment here. A Nilgai with severe hind legs injuries was brought here last week but could not recover and died after two days, he adds.
The SPCA premises here in Sector 38, which is providing treatment to sick and injured animals, houses 98 sick or injured dogs, 85 cow or bulls, 38 pigeons, 18 eagles, three hawks and several other animals.
While the man-animal conflict management still remains a grey area, the UT Forest and Wildlife Department has also been receiving a large number of complaints every month over its widely publicized man-animal conflict helpline.
Sample this. 137 complaints were received in July on the helpline number, 114 in June, 141 in May, 127 in April, 104 in March, 111 in February, 105 in January.
During last year, the number and trend of complaints remained almost similar with 137 complaints registered in January 2018, 99 in February, 126 in March, 141 in April, 129 in May, 136 in June, 181 in July, 159 in August, 160 in September, 168 in October, 128 in November and 108 in December.
Dr Abdul Qayum, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh tells, “As per our observations, complaints related to snakes increase in monsoon season and, from the month of August to September, complaints related to monkey menace are maximum. In summer and winter season, incidents of wild animals like Sambar and Deer straying into human habitation have been observed.”
As per the statistics with the Department, eights complaints related to Sambar and seven related to Nilgai venturing close to human habitation or being injured were received in January this year, four related to Sambar and six regarding Nilgai were received in February. 11 such complaints were received in month of March, four complaints in April.
Maximum complaints were of monkey menace with 62 calls on helpline in the month of January, 76 in February, 73 in March and 80 in April.The record also has complaints related to Snakes, Bats, Owls, Eagles, Peacocks, Pigeons, Reptiles among other species.
“After the unfortunate incident of a Sambar being killed in an accident in November last year and subsequent directions from the High Court, the UT Forests and Wildlife Department has undertaken various measures to prevent such cases in the future,” Dr Abdul Qayum says.
“In a study of wildlife accidents, 38 locations were identified where animals suffered injuries across the city. While animal-crossing signboards have been put up at such locations to caution people, we have also requested the UT Traffic Police to ensure monitoring of speed limit at such junctions,” he says
Dr Abdul further tells, “The Department had also written to the UT Engineering Department to build speed breakers at such locations in the interest of wildlife safety but nothing has been done so far in this regard.”
“Our task force is handling complaints received on the helpline for 24x7. We have a dedicated vehicle to attend injured animals and shift them to SPCA hospital for treatment,” he adds.On the reasons of wildlife animals entering the city, Dr Abdul says, “There is enough food in the Sanctuary but at some places, where fencing is broken, the Sambars, Deers and other animals enter the city. As far as population of Sambars is concerned, their huge number in the forest area is not alarming as yet.”
“In case of monkeys, they have adapted to urban habitats over the years. After being released into the forest areas, monkeys still stray out of the sanctuary as there is easy availability of food in the city. We have begun fruit plantation in the sanctuary to provide enough food to monkeys and restrict them inside the forest area,” he adds.
Elaborating about the complaints received on the man-animal conflict helpline, Bhupinder Singh, Deputy Range Forest Officer, Wildlife Squad says, “Most of the wildlife accident cases are reported near Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, Botanical Garden, Dadumajra, near Nature Interpretation Centre (Sukhna Lake) and several other areas in the city.”
“After receiving complaint on the helpline number, we dispatch our team which attends the injured animals and transport them to the SPCA hospital for treatment. A dedicated vehicle equipped with smooth hydraulic based lifting is used to transport injured animals to the rescue centre,” he says.
After attending to various cases of wildlife accidents in the city, Bhupinder Singh tells, “While we have launched a man-animal conflict helpline, there is also a need to sensitize people about wildlife issues and we are working on this.”
As they say there are always two sides to every story, it would be unfair on our part if we do not mention the victims of road accidents caused due to stray animals in the city.
While animals are getting killed in road accidents on the city roads, many human fatalities are also reported every year in Chandigarh due to the presence of stray animals in streets and roads.
Sadly, the stray cattle and dogs have become a threat to commuters’ life but no concrete steps have been taken by the higher authorities to deal with the problem. Besides, the repeated stray dog attacks over the past several years have left the city denizens in panic. More than 300 cases of dog bites are reported every month in the city Last year, the city also witnessed a horrific incident when an 18 months old child was mauled to death by stray dogs in a city’s park.
Then there are also cases of cruelty against animals in Chandigarh. A past incident of a stray dog being hung upside down and beaten mercilessly by four people in Sector 48 here had triggered uproar among the animal rights activists.
Protection And Care For Animals (PACFA), founder Reshamjit Kaur tells that she receives around three-five complaints from Chandigarh, Mohali and other nearby cities everyday regarding cruelty against animals. The complaints also include people beating up dogs mercilessly when the animal simply sits outside their homes, she says.
“There are around 30 injured and disabled dogs in the PACFA shelter. People feel that stray dogs and cattle are nuisance but they need to learn how to deal with them,” she adds.Commenting on the issue of man-animal conflict, Delhi based ecologist and conservationist TK Roy says, “Wildlife animals usually come out of protected forest areas in search of food or due to disturbance in their natural habitat.”
In India, incidents of Leopards and Elephants straying into the human habitations are reported in large numbers every year, Roy says.
“The human-animal conflict is an existential crisis not for the animals, but for human beings also. As far as urban city of Chandigarh is concerned, there is a need to ensure protection of natural habitat of wildlife animals and birds and sensitize people to reduce incidents of man-animal conflict,” he adds.