Divyanshu Paudel

As human population continues to grow, the encroachment of wildlife habitats continues to rise. This brings an inevitable conflict between humans and the natives of the wilderness. As time goes on, we should focus on mitigating the adverse effects of these conflicts while keeping in mind that we, humans are the invaders and the wild animals are just occupying what is rightfully their territory.

We should focus on mutual coexistence rather than being in a state of continuous conflict and enmity. In order to learn more about the wildlife-human conflict and its resolution, this scribe had an interview with a joint-secretary of the Government of Nepal, Surendra Paudel who has served 27 years of his life in the home ministry where he has worked at various district administration offices in different positions.

Mr. Paudel has worked in 13 district administration offices where he had to cooperate with the district and divisional forest officers and local bodies in order to manage the human-wildlife conflict. Among various districts where he worked, he noticed Arghakhachi, Saptari, Sarlahi and Bara districts with severe human-wildlife conflicts whereas Gorkha and Surkhet also had human-wildlife conflicts of mild level.

Lacking Management
After this conversation, it came to notice that our country is seriously lacking the effective management of such conflict due to various problems along with lack of wildlife related professionals to look into such incidents.
Among the districts where Paudel worked, he recalls that Arghakhachi has the most human-wildlife related conflict incidents. Leopards, wild boars and monkeys were the animals frequently involved in the conflict with humans. “Reports about leopard attacks were common with many casualties on both sides along with loss of cattle whereas wild boars invading farmlands and destroying crops and injuring people were also frequently reported. Likewise, reports of monkey bites and monkeys destroying crops were also widespread Paudel said.

Talking about how the conflicts were being managed, Paudel said that traps were made for leopards with cooperation of the District Forests Office (DFO) where wooden or metal cages were made and live goats were used to lure the leopards. Local bodies hired people for chasing away monkeys whereas there was no proper management for wild boars. People were left to fend for themselves in case of wild these crop invaders. There were no professionals capable of using tranquiliders in the district and when required, the DFO had to request the Chitwan National Park.

Likewise, elephant rampage and crocodile attacks were common in Saptari, Sarlahi and Bara. Blue bulls were found to have destroyed crops in Sarlahi. This year, a person tragically died in an elephant attack in Bara. Night time elephant raids are common in different Terai settlements. During elephant rampage, locals had to use their own means to fend for themselves until the concerned authorities arrived.
As per Paudel, the locals used utensil beating, firecrackers, etc. to make loud noise to scare the elephants away. Some people used bees while others lit chili powder to create strong repulsive smoke. While the local police and DFO did provide aid as fast as they could, to deal with the beasts such as elephants and crocodiles would ultimately require a skilled wildlife professional. Otherwise, it may put the lives of people or animals concerned in danger.

In the incidents of raids, wildlife professionals have to be called from either Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Parsa National Park or Chitwan National Park. It is often too late when the help arrived.
In Nepal, the management measures of human-wildlife conflict is not up to expectations. For example, there is no availability of technicians with the required skills to tranquilise and rescue the animal in a place of conflict. Finding a place for rehabilitation is another problem. In Arghakhachi, local people were forced to arm themselves against wildlife such as monkeys, wild boars and even leopards. While they may not sound too threatening, monkeys and boars are known to carry deadly diseases and wild boars are perfectly capable of seriously injuring or even killing humans. So, letting untrained local people to deal with the wild animals has serious risk to both the people as well as animals.

Dearth of Professionals
Available wildlife professionals are too far apart. For example, if a leopard needs to be darted in Arghakhachi, a technician should be called from Chitwan National Park, which takes a couple of hours to arrive. It is also one of the reasons why many leopards are killed by local people. Thus, this issue should be addressed as early as possible. Another thing that should frequently be done is to educate local people about the threats and behaviors of wildlife as well as their importance. It helps to lessen the conflict. It is relevant to give them some training and classes, to make them aware of how to act when one encounters with these creatures. The government should make proper management plans and assign skilled personnel appropriately.

It seems that the situation of conflict between man and wildlife is not coming to an end soon in Nepal. As long as there are people living in and around wildlife habitats and protected areas, the hostile encounters will continue to occur. Nonetheless, measures must be taken to lessen it as much as possible. Living in harmony should be prioritised over living in constant conflict; and in order to do that, support from every stakeholder is necessary.

The government should make appropriate plans and policies and see the bigger picture while conducting developmental works. The works should be carried out following the principle of sustainable development which advocates infrastructure development with minimal disturbances to the environment. Likewise, the citizens should also understand the importance of wildlife and be well-informed in how to act when they encounter with them. They should also support the right decisions of the government. Only when all the involved parties move hand in hand, will the situation improve.

(Paudel is a B.Sc. Forestry first year student at Kathmandu Forestry College, Koteswar.)