DH Pora residents demand Wildlife Control Room
About Us | Contact Us | E-Paper
Title :    Text :    Source : 

DH Pora residents demand Wildlife Control Room

Establishing this facility will minimise human-animal conflict, save lives

Post by on Saturday, August 6, 2022

First slide
Kulgam, August 05: The residents of Damhal Hanjipora area of Kulgam district have demanding setting up of a Wildlife Control Room (WCR) in the area as they fear that they may be attacked by wild animals as the sub-division is in close proximity to the forest.
They said that just few days ago, a leopard mauled Tahira Begum of Chek-i-Ramberpora (C R Pora), leaving her severely wounded. She is battling between life and death in Kashmir’s premier hospital – SKIMS.
The locals added that in a chilling incident, two eight-year-old boys of Manzgam, were killed when a leopard attacked them in their backyard in June 2021. Last year on March 16, Abdul Samad Mir, a 55-year-old man, was sitting outside his home in Chek-i-Ramberpora, a hamlet in the Damhal Hanji Pora sub-division, when a leopard mauled him badly. 
They said that in another incident, a local, Abdul Samad was lying in a pool of blood in his backyard. His family and neighbours took him to hospital and he was referred to SKIMS Soura, where he succumbed to his injuries.
 In such a situation, the locals said, setting up of a WCR in the area has become inevitable as it will decrease chances of people losing their lives to attacks from wild animals.
Not only humans, the wild animals have many a time also attacked the livestock. There have been several reports regarding the human-animal conflict in the area.
The Kulgam District has a lone Wildlife Control Room in the Devsar area where the staff is stationed to drive away wild animals from human habitation.
Abdul Rashid Laway, a local told Rising Kashmir that people have been repeatedly demanding a wildlife control unit for this subdivision. “On January 22, Divisional Commissioner visited the area and met with several delegations and listened to their problems. The question of the wildlife control unit was also raised in the interaction,” he said.
So far there seems no positive response from the authorities but we will keep on demanding it, he added.
A wildlife officer told the Rising Kashmir that the department can’t keep wildlife control room everywhere. “We don’t have enough staff available for it. Kulgam has only one control room that caters to the whole district.”
“A concerned territorial forest officer by law is also authorised to take cognizance of any wildlife-related incident. Most of the incidents occur outside wildlife areas. Our mandate is for wildlife area, still, our staff reaches everywhere be it settlements or wildlife area,” he added.
 
 
 
 
 

Latest Post