Wednesday 16 May 2012

'Include man-animal conflict in disaster management lists'


NASHIK: A seminar on 'Man-animal conflict' was conducted by biologist and leopard expert Vidya Atre on Tuesday for the forest and fire departments at Nehru Udyan. The seminar came on the heels of a proposal by the chief conservator of forests (territorial) to the state that the man-animal conflict issue be listed under disaster management.

Atre briefed the forest department and the fire brigade on how to handle the situation if a leopard is found in a human settlements. She also shared her experiences and experiments in monitoring locations and behaviour of leopards. She said that help from the police should be sought first and then efforts should be made to trap the animal. She also said that it is not necessary to trap all animals.

"Soon, a list of dos and don'ts and precautions will be given to the departments so that whenever a wild animal is to be handled, the process becomes smooth," she said. The chief conservator of forests (territorial), G Saiprakash, said that though the collars used for tracking animals through GPS are very expensive, the forest department would try to include man-animal conflict under disaster management.

"One outcome of this seminar is that I will put forth a proposal to the state government that the issue of man animal conflict be declared under disaster management. I will send the proposal soon so that all the district machinery automatically comes to the picture and the district collector can issue orders to all concerned. In this way we can get all the help in time," said 

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