Wildlife
from Chure forests entering human settlements in search of water
Animals
like wild boars and blue bulls reach settlements that border with India,
terrorising the locals.
Laxmi Sah
Published
at : January 22, 2020
Updated
at : January 22, 2020 08:54
Bara
“A wild boar from the Chure forests had
entered the settlement. Krishna was collecting fodder in the nearby field when
the boar attacked her,” said Bachchha Yadav, Krishna’s uncle. According to him,
wild animals frequently enter settlements and destroy crops.
Kachorwa, which lies near the Nepal-India
border in Simraungadh Municipality Ward No. 8 of Bara, is around 40km south of
the Chure forests. Locals say wildlife, including wild boars, blue bulls, deer
and monkeys, has started entering
settlements and wreaking havoc of late.
“Wild animals destroy crops planted in
hectares of land. Big animals generally do not venture into the settlements;
it’s the smaller ones like wild boars and blue bulls that terrorise us. The
forest office and the national park are indifferent towards our problems,” said
Pannalal Das, a farmer of Piprabirta in Mahagadhimai Municipality.
According to conservationists, wild animals
have started moving south to the settlements that border India, as water
sources in the Chure forest region are drying up. Rampant deforestation and
haphazard extraction of sand and pebbles in the Chure range in the past few
years have led to a depletion of water sources.
“Water level in various rivers and rivulets
have gradually started decreasing due to rampant deforestation and exploitation
of riverbed materials. Chure forests, until a few years back, had several
sources of water, but most have dried up now. Wild animals are moving south in
search of water,” said Rabindra Singh, chairman of Halkhoriya Collaborative
Forest Management Committee.
Amir Maharjan, chief of Parsa National
Park, admits that a shortage of water sources is forcing wild animals to move
south towards the no-man’s-land.
“The population of wild animals is also on
the rise, which is good news, but we must manage proper habitat to accommodate
the growing number,” said Maharjan. According to him, the number of animals
like deer, tiger, leopard, wild boar, monkey and the blue bull has increased
significantly in the past few years.
There were four tigers in the area during
the tiger census held in 2010. The latest census conducted in 2018 showed 18 tigers in
the park forests. It is estimated that there are around 60 to 65 elephants and
four to six rhinos in the area. The government in 2017 declared Parsa Wildlife
Reserve as Parsa National Park. The park occupies 627 square kilometre area,
including the forests of Parsa, Bara and Makwanpur.
Conservationists have stressed on the need
to preserve water sources in the Chure region in order to conserve the wildlife
and prevent them from entering human settlements.
“The authorities concerned should
immediately make plans and policies to address this issue. Big animals like
elephant, rhino and tiger will also start entering human settlements if the
problem is not addressed at the earliest,” said Baburam Gopali, a former warden
of the park.
