Man-animal Conflict to be Listed as Disaster by UP Govt | 06 Aug 2018

The Uttar Pradesh government has given its in-principle approval to bring man-animal conflict under listed disasters in the State Disaster Response Fund to ensure better coordination and relief during such incidents.

• The move will enable faster relief, creating awareness, ensuring police support in areas when such conflicts are reported, and proper guidelines to handle situations when wild animals venture in human in-habitation.
• The recognition of man-animal conflict as disaster under SDRF is a paradigm shift in handling such situations which will ensure better synergy among agencies and quicker relief to affected people.
• The declaration of such conflict under SDRF will also mean that police and local administration will step in as soon as such a situation.

Background

• “Living with the Wild: Mitigating Conflict between Humans and Big Cat Species in Uttar Pradesh” report by the UP Forest Department and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has analysed the patterns of attacks, and outlines the circumstances in which these shy animals injure or kill humans.
• It found that most attacks (90.6%) took place during the day, when the forest-dependent communities are most active. This suggests that tigers aren’t actively seeking out human beings as prey and “most human-tiger encounters are caused by humans accidentally disturbing tigers that are resting in fields or fringe forests areas during the day.”
• Since human beings are not a part of the tigers’ food chain, the attacks take place because the forest and fields are not separated by a buffer zone.
  
  • Herbivores, which are the natural prey of big cats, enter these crop fields in search of food.
• The report also suggests the changes in human behaviour that could help reduce the number of attacks — such as not entering forests alone, not leaving children unattended, and building toilets at home.
• Uttar Pradesh has 23 wildlife sanctuaries, besides Dudhwa National Park and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, according to the data of a report by Wildlife Trust of India and the state government.
• The Wildlife Protection Act does not have provision for compensation in case any human being or cattle is killed by a wild animal within a protected area or sanctuary.
• The government gives ex-gratia at fixed rates in such cases a view to reduce retaliatory killings.
  
  • However, it is a time-consuming process and may take a year to get relief, that too if inquiry clears such a payment.
  • Delays in getting ex-gratia triggers anger among local population against protected animals which often results in tigers and leopards being killed by villagers.

Man-animal Conflict

• Incidents of wild animals straying into human habitat poses a threat for both the animal and the people residing in that area and calls for serious questioning of the administration’s attitude towards the safety of the animals as well as the people.

Causes of Man–animal Conflict

• Destruction of natural habitat of the wildlife.
• Overlap in the needs of wildlife animals and humans.
• Land use transformation, growth of human population as well as wildlife population etc. can be other reasons.

Effects of Man-animal Conflict

• Damage to agricultural crops and property
• Resource scarcity and livelihood effects on humans
• Negative impact on wildlife population

Solutions

• Creating artificial and natural barriers across wildlife and human habitats.
• Restoration of wildlife habitats to their original form.
• Relocation of human population settlements.