Srinagar: Increased man-animal conflict has claimed around sixty lives across Jammu Kashmir in the past three years, data furnished by Wild Life Department said. .
Giving reasons for what he called `disturbing trend’ an official of the department said : “Denudation of forests, encroachment on forest land and vanishing buffer zones force animals to move towards villages where they come across human beings and the results are before us.”
According to him, animals no longer feel safe in forests and shortage of food further increases their woes.
It has been observed that leopards and bears venture into residential areas very often and attack humans.
Giving figures for the last three years, he said around 60 people were killed and around 600 injured in man-animal conflict in the state.
Perturbed over the rising incidents of the man-animal conflicts, the Wild Life Department has asked people residing near forests to take extraordinary precautions.
Pertinently the Wild Life Department has issued an advisory in view of increasing man-animal conflicts in Kashmir. The people living near forests have been asked to avoid using of bush growths and forest fringe areas for nature calls in late evening or night hours.
The people have been further asked to provide enough light outside their houses so that the animals stay away. “The villagers must regularly remove all bushes or shrubs from the vicinity of houses in cooperative manner,” it adds.
The people have also been refrained from chasing an animal. “Children and women are vulnerable to leopard. Bear attacks, can be prevented if they move in groups or children are accompanied by an elderly person,” the advisory reads.
The advisory urges the villagers to tie bells around the neck of the cattle to keep animals away.
In Kashmir most of the attacks have taken place in July in Tral, Shopian villages in South Kashmir. There have been a few attacks in north Kashmir as well, the data reveals.
Animals attacks have also been rampant in Jammu region also.
