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MAN ANIMAL CONFLICT

(A STUDY OF HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICTS

IN EASTERN VIDARBHA REGION OF MAHARASHTRA)

YASH VIR SINGH, IFS

CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS (WORKING PLAN)

CHANDRAPUR (MAHARASHTRA)

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Abstract:

This study was conducted in the forest areas of Gondia and Bhandara districts in

eastern Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. The forest areas of this region are situated

between the Pench Tiger Reserve and Tadoba- Andhari Tiger Reserves and act as

corridor between these two meta-populations of tiger. The objective of the study is to

examine the present status of man-animal conflict, its causes and mitigation measures

to be adopted in order to contain the problem. It is observed that the forest areas of the

region are excellent habitats for the wild animals in general and tiger in particular.

Gond and Mandia tribals and other forest dwellers have been traditionally living in

co-existence with wild animals since ages. However the man-animal conflict has

increased alarmingly in recent years. The study reveals that the competition between

man and wild animals for food and water in the fringes and habitat fragmentation are

the two main causes of man-animal conflict in the region. The issues need to be

solved sincerely if the tiger and other wild animals are to be saved from local

extinction in this area. A few mitigation measures have been detailed in this article.

Keywords: Man-animal conflict, habitat degradation, Habitat fragmentation, ex-

gratia

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Introduction – Human and wild animals both are integral components of forest

ecosystem. Their presence affects each other even in normal conditions however, they

live in harmony unless their interests come to conflicts and their activities start harming

each other. Here animals mean wild animals like Tiger, Panther, Bear, Bison, Wild

boar, Wolf, Hyena, Wild dog, Elephant and Crocodile which are potentially powerful

of harming human-beings or their livestock, crops and other property. Man animal

conflicts are manifested by such incidents as a human-being killed or injured by wild

animal on the one hand and any wild animal is injured or killed by a man on the other

hand. Villagers living in and around such jungle areas where wild animals also have

their habitat are most affected in such conflicts. The cattle reared by man are killed or

injured by wild animals in and around these jungle areas and his crops are also

damaged by many herbivores like deer, wild boar, blue bull, bison, monkeys and

elephants.

Eastern Vidarbha is a moderately thick populated region having good and sizeable

forest cover which is a part of “Dandakaranya”. Here tribals and forest dwellers have

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been living in and around forests since ages. Wild animals also live in these forests

even since prior to human beings. The conflicts between humans and wild animals are

not new. A seal (which is about 4500 years old) recovered in Harappan excavations

depicts a tiger below a tree and a man sitting on that tree. Because of competition for

natural resources, need and greed of the people; there is heavy biotic pressure on these

forests also and people have started penetrating deeper and deeper in the habitat of

wild animals which is giving rise to conflicts between them. Sometimes conflicts are

only because of accidents and without any kind of intention either by man or wild

animal. Therefore, “Man-animal conflicts” are on the rise presently and this is a hot

topic for news, discussion and concern these days. Almost every day, some incidents of

man-animal conflict are coming to the notice resulting either into loss of life of wild

animal or loss of life or property to the man in some form or other. Newspapers are full

of such incidents narrating stories of how a tiger mauled some person who had gone to

forest for fetching some fuel wood or some minor forest produce and such incidence

where a panther was poisoned by villagers for taking revenge or some bear is beaten to

death by villagers just out of panic.

2. Material and methods:

2.1 Flora of Eastern Vidarbha

The forests of Vidarbha consist mainly of Reserved Forests and Protected Forests.

However, there is a kind of forest found in villages of Vidarbha which is legally known

as Zudpi Jungle and it is found in small patches around the villages mainly shrubby in

nature from which it derive its name. Most of the forest occurring in this region comes

in the major forest type, Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests as per Champion &

Seth classification. Following are the main forest sub-types.

2.1.1 Southern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forests (5A/C3):

Teak is present occasionally. The main species are Terminalia tomentosa, (Ain),

Anogeissus latifolia (Dhaoda), Chloroxylon swietenia (Bherra), Albizia odoratissima

(Chichua), Cassia fistula (Bahawa), Xylia xylocarpa (Suriya), Pterocarpus marsupium

(Bija), Salmalia malabaricum (Semal), Terminalia bellerica (Behada), Dalbergia

latifolia (Shishum), Syzigium cumini (Jambul), Zizyphus sps, (Bor), Emblica officinalis

(Aonla), Lagerstroemia parviflora (Lenida), Cleistanthus collinus (Garari) etc. Bamboo

( Dendrocalamus strictus ) is also found mixed on quite large tracts of forests.

2.1.2 Dry Teak Bearing Forests (5A/C1b):

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Principal species is Tectona grandis (Teak) and the associates are Ougeinia

dalbergioides (Tiwas), Acacia catechu (Khair), Gmelina arborea (Shivan) and

Anogeissus latifolia (Dhawada) etc.

Table1: Extent of Forests in eastern Vidarbha districts of Gondia & Bhandara

Name of Unit Gondia district (sq. km) Bhandara District (sq. km)

Gondia Forest Division 1731.785 -

Bhandara Forest Division - 884.994

F.D.C.M.Ltd. 327.196 273.196

Research Wing - 4.783

Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary 153.663 -

New Nagzira WL Sanctuary 72.877 -

Navegaon National Park 129.552 -

New Navegaon N P 122.757 -

Umrer Karandla WL Sanctuary(part) - 40.582

Total Forest Area 2537.83 1203.555

Total Geographical area 5425 3716.65

% Forest area to Geographic. Area 46.78% 32.38%

2.2 Fauna: Carnivores are represented mainly by the tiger (Panthera tigris) and

Leopard (Panthera pardus). Other carnivores like Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena),

Wolves (Canis lupus), Wild dog or dhole (Cuon alpinus), jungle cat (Felis chaus), and

Small Indian civet (Viverricula indica) are also seen occasionally. Sloth bear

(Melursus ursinus) is also quite common. Jackal (Canis aureus), and common palm

civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) are also found. Chital (Axis axis), sambar

(Cervus unicolor), Gaur (Bos frontalis Lambert), Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus),

wild pig (Sus scrofa), barking deer (Muntiacus muntjac) and chowsingha (Tetraceros

quadricornis) and occasionally Chinkara (Gazella bennetti) are the wild ungulates.

Common langur (Semnopithecus entellus), rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), Indian

porcupine (Hystrix indica) and common mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii), black-

naped hare (Lepus nigricollis nigricollis) also occur in this area.

Table 2: Estimated population of wild animals in Bhandara & Gondia districts:

Name of species Inside PAs Outside PAs Total

Tiger 14 4 18

Leopard 30 12 42

Sloth Bear 75 45 120

Bison 400 100 500

Other herbivores 2500 1000 3500

Wild Boars Abundant abundant abundant Source: Dy. C.F. territorial Gondia & Bhandara

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2.3 Kinds of Man-Animal conflicts:

The incidents of Man-Animal Conflicts can be categorized into following major

types:

i. Human beings get killed or injured by wild animals in human wild animal

Conflicts.

ii. Livestock/Cattle reared by man get killed or injured in human wild animal

conflicts.

iii. Crop cultivated by man damaged in human wild animal conflicts.

iv. Wild animals get killed or injured in human wild animal conflicts.

The wild animals involved in these conflicts in this area are mostly Tiger, Leopard,

Wild boar, Bear, Hyena, Blue bull, Chital, Sambar, Monkeys etc. In eastern Vidarbha

region of the state of Maharashtra where I have served, the population of wild boars

has enormously increased specially on the fringes of the forest areas where human

habitation is dense. There is a category of forest called “Zudpi Jungle” occurring near

villages of Vidarbha which is found mostly in small shrubby patches in addition to

reserved and protected forest which has become virtually home of wild boars. The

number of cases of injuries inflicted to human beings by wild boar is much more

than by any other wild animal. The crops like paddy, sugarcane, banana, pulses and

vegetables etc are badly damaged mostly by wild boars, deer and blue bulls in this

area which raid into the crops frequently leaving the owner farmers crying and

cursing. Reports are also frequently received of some strayed Tiger, Panther or Bear

taking toll of human being near protected areas of Nagzira Sanctuary or elsewhere.

There are incidents of tigers, panthers, sloth bears killed by poisoning by villagers in

retaliation.

Table 3: Man-animal conflicts recorded during last 3 years:

Year

Human death Human injury Cattle kills Crop damage Total

No.

of

cases

ex-gratia

paid (Rs.

In lakhs)

No.

of

cases

ex-gratia

paid (Rs.

In lakhs)

No.

of

cases

ex-

gratia

paid

(Rs. In

lakhs)

No. of

cases

ex-

gratia

paid

(Rs. In

lakhs)

No. of

cases

ex-gratia

paid (Rs.

In lakhs)

2010-11 3 6.00 139 31.65 174 11.97 460 5.44 776 55.06

2011-12 4 8.00 73 6.35 202 14.64 462 14.34 741 43.33

2012-13 7 14.00 41 4.63 115 6.40 1876 81.68 2039 106.71

Total 14 28.00 253 42.62 491 33.02 2798 101.46 3556 205.10

Source: Dy. C.F. territorial Gondia & Bhandara

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Some photographs showing the problem of man-animal conflict:

A man injured by tiger

A woman killed by tiger

A woman injured by wild pig

A cattle killed by tiger

A woman killed by tiger

Woman killed by tiger

Paddy crop damaged by wild pig

Sugarcane crop damaged by wild pig

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A tigress declared man-eater shot dead near

Sakoli (Maharashtra) by forest department on

12.01.2013 after two failed attempts of

tranquilization

Retaliatory killing of leopard near Adyal

A man killed by leopard near Umarzari

3 Results and Discussion:

3.1 Causes of Man-Animal Conflicts:

i. Habitat fragmentation and shrinking of habitat give rise to shrinking of space,

food etc in the forest which is required for the wild animals which result in

animals stray out of habitat in search of food, water or shelter. This habitat

fragmentation may be result of many reasons, for example, Construction of

roads especially big Highways and canals passing through dense jungles and

the big mines. I have noticed Cheetals and Sambars in drought season fell into

irrigation canals of Gosi khurd dam which are passing tens of kilometers

through the tiger habitat and the animals could not come out and died there.

ii. Encroachment in the forest lands by local people has resulted in shrinkage of

wildlife habitats especially on the fringes which has increased the pressure on

the limited natural resources in the forest areas.

iii. Increased disturbance due to collection of fuel wood, fodder, NTFPs, water

etc. from the forests has also increased the incidences of man-animal conflict.

I have seen numerous incidences where the cattle graziers were killed/ mauled

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by tiger/ panther/ bear. The number of graziers/ wood collectors alone mauled

by wild animals is more than other types of human injuries/ death caused by

the wild animals.

iv. Increase in area under cultivation around wildlife habitats and changed

cropping pattern have also contributed to increased man-animal conflict.

People have started growing commercial crops like sugarcane and banana,

which provide good hiding place for the wild animals like wild boar, sloth

bear and panther.

v. It is observed that the local people have to go deeper and deeper, year by year

for fetching firewood and other forest produce for their bonafide use, because

of degradation of forests in the fringes. This has increased the number of

incidences of man-animal conflict

vi. Infestation of wildlife habitat by the invasive exotic weeds like Lantana,

Eupatorium and Parthenium have resulted in decreased availability of edible

grasses for the wild herbivores. As a result, herbivores come out of forest area

and cause depredation of agricultural crops on the fringes.

vii. Monoculture of teak in the large scale forest plantations raised by the Forest

Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (FDCM) has also adversely

affected the wildlife habitat value of the forest areas.

viii. Most incidences of man-animal conflicts are noticed during summer when

water becomes scarce. The livestock and wild animals have to share the

limited water sources on the fringes or inside forest. Human interference with

the natural drainage system in forest areas and diversion of water towards

habitation has further complicated the issue.

ix. In some forest areas, the number of wild animals especially prolific breeders

like wild pig has increased beyond the carrying capacity of the habitat

concerned. Hence wild animals stray out of forests cause man-animal conflict.

x. Decreased prey base caused by poaching of herbivores has resulted in

carnivores moving out of forest in search of prey and indulge in cattle lifting.

The Gond and Mandia tribals celebrate the Pola festival in which community

hunting is a tradition which is still in practice clandestinely despite the sincere

efforts by the forest department to contain it.

xi. Sometimes the wild animals and human come in sudden contact and out of

fear of each other, they harm each other accidently. During tendu patta

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collection season every year, such accidents frequently occur leaving many

tendu leaves’ collectors mauled or killed by Bear, Leopard, Tiger and Wild

boar etc.

3.2 Mitigation measures of Man- Animal Conflict: man animal conflicts

result in very bad effect on society as well as on wild animals. The family of the

victim is left weeping and helpless. Sometimes, the only earning member of the

family is killed in the incident. The farmers sustain big losses due to crop damages by

wild animals season after season which may force them to commit suicide. We

cannot completely stop Man- Animal Conflicts cent percent however, Man- Animal

Conflicts can be reduced to minimum and can be controlled if some of the following

precautions are taken and measure adopted sincerely.

i. To control poaching : Poaching of wild animals should be stopped so that the

no of wild animals can stabilize at its carrying capacity which would reach

equilibrium in the ecosystem and this equilibrium between the numbers of

prey animals and predators in the forest ecosystem would be maintained.

ii. To undertake SMC works in the habitat: To stop soil erosion and to

increase water availability in the forests, soil and moisture conservation

measures (SMC) like vegetative checks dams, loose boulder check-dams,

cement plugs, nala bunding, water tanks, should be taken in the forest so that

water regime of the forest is increased in a natural way which will increase the

productivity of the forests as well as water availability in the habitat. Then the

sufficient food and water for wild life will be available and the number of

animals straying out of forest will be controlled.

iii. To stop monoculture and increase number of edibles miscellaneous

species: We should not plant monoculture of species like teak, instead we

should go for mixed plantations of miscellaneous, bamboo and fruit species

which will provide more food for animals in the forest. Hiding shelter to

animals as well as provide food for most herbivores.

iv. Stop fragmentation of wildlife habitat and wildlife corridors: While going

for construction of dams, long canals for irrigation and Highways through the

forest areas, we should avoid the fragmentation of wildlife habitat and take

proper care so that the connectivity through wildlife corridors is not disturbed.

Animals cannot pass these canals and roads easily and they are localized and

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their natural balance is disturbed. Big mines can also fragment the habitat

hence to be avoided. We should also avoid the corridors of wildlife joining

one habitat with nearby habitat which is essential for their sustenance. Rajeev

Sagar (Bavanthadi) Project is a big inter-state irrigation project of M.P and

Maharashtra which is built on the river, Bavanthadi flowing along the inter-

state border. Its canals are very deep and horrifying especially when those

pass through hilly areas in Tumser taluka. By mere observation by eyes, one

can imagine how difficult it is for wildlife to pass across these canals to go to

the other side of the habitat. Hence the project authority has been directed to

construct 30 meters wide passages made of concrete at least at 17 suitable

identified locations as a condition of the project stipulated in the approval

under Forest Conservation Act. One project of widening of N.H-6, between

villages Lakhni and Sakoli is withheld because it will cut the important

wildlife corridor which joins two habitats. The wildlife experts have suggested

to build many kilometer long fly-overs to facilitate easy free way for wildlife

under this to mitigate the bad effect of widening of highway. Due to huge cost

involved in this, the National Highway Authority of India could not do it and

this project is still held up in the interest of wildlife.

v. Providing LPG to villagers – LPG should be provided to those villagers who

frequently go to the forest areas specially wildlife habitats to fetch fuel wood

for their chullahs so that they may stop penetrating into forest and stop

inviting Man- Animal Conflicts. These people are most vulnerable to Man-

Animal Conflicts. Maharashtra Forest Department has started in big way to

distribute LPG to villagers residing on the fringes under Joint Forest

Management Program and Village Eco-development Program which will go a

long way simultaneously to conserve forests and wildlife o and to reduce man

animal conflicts.

vi. Awareness Raising – People should be made more and more aware through

meetings and pamphlets etc that they should avoid going deep into the forest

areas. If they have to go in any case they should go in groups and they should

keep talking to each other to detract the wild animals. School children in

vulnerable villages should be educated about the importance of wildlife and

human co-existence with it.

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vii. Solar Fencing around agriculture fields – Agriculture fields situated near

wildlife habitat/forest areas can be protected by stone fencing or solar fencing.

Solar fencing has been tried with quite good effect in Wardha District of

Maharashtra. The District Planning and Development committee is ready to

give financial support to the farmers for erecting solar fencing.

viii. Controlling crop pattern – Crops like sugarcane, Banana, Bajra, tuhar should

not be allowed to be grown near forest areas. These crops attract wildlife for

food as well as good hiding place.

ix. Paying Ex-gratia/Compensation to the people – Ex-gratia /compensation

should be paid promptly to the victims of wildlife attack so that the people will

not become enemy of the wild animals. Otherwise people tend to take revenge

from the wild animals by killing them by poison, trap, hacking or shooting as

has been noticed in many cases. Govt. of Maharashtra vide its G.R no.WLP-

2012/337/F1, Mumbai dated 12 April 2013 has enhanced the rates of

compensation. Now, ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh each is paid to the

successor/kin of the victims who are killed by tiger, leopard, bear, bison, wolf,

wild boar, elephant, wild dog and crocodile. Rs 4 lakh is given for permanent

disability and Rs 1 lakh is paid to seriously injured person. Likewise

compensation up to maximum 12 thousand is paid for cattle killed by wild

animals and upto Rs one thousand for treatment of a livestock. The

compensation at different prescribed rates is also paid to farmers whose crops

are damaged by mentioned wild animals viz Bison, Deer, Wild Boar, Blue

Bull, Monkey and Elephant. Public resentment may be pacified more

effectively by still increasing the rates of ex-gratia/ compensation.

x. Relocation/Rehabilitation of problematic and disadvantaged wild

animal: If a wild animal like tiger, panther, or bear has become disadvantaged

or problematic , this fact to be doubly confirmed and then only such animal

should be caught either by tranquilization or by trapping cages, safely. Then it

should be relocated in suitable habitat or be kept in a zoo or rescue centers for

all its remaining life. However, it is not advisable to keep the stressed

problematic animal to be released near the problem area where people may

harm that animal. It is better to relocate this kind of animals by following the

prescribed protocols in this regard. Central zoo authority, New Delhi. Should

allow many more ‘Wildlife Homes’ and Rescue Centers for such animals

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should be created near every tiger reserve and big sanctuary in the Country.

One such rescue home is needed near Nagzira wildlife sanctuary also.

4. Conclusion: Eastern Vidarbha districts of Gondia & Bhandara abound in rich

forests which are very good wildlife habitat for tiger as well as other wildlife. The

govt. should avoid diversion of forest land of this habitat and its corridors for any

other purpose in the first place. Encroachments in the habitat or in its fringes are to be

removed and to be discouraged. Local people should avoid going alone and going

deep into the forests. Ex-gratia/ compensation are to be paid promptly and timely

without requiring much paperwork. A ‘Wildlife Rescue Center cum Home’ is

required to be established near Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Vidarbha for

sheltering disadvantaged wild animals. Awareness raising to be done so that people

continue their habit and practice of co-existence with wildlife in this region which

will go a long way in protection and conservation of wildlife and in mitigation of

man- wild animal conflict.

5. References: This article is based on the field experience of the author. The

statistical information and the photographs have been provided by the Deputy

Conservator of Forests concerned.

A man mauled by tiger taking treatment at a Hospital

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