Budgam, Jan 20: The human-animal conflict has claimed six lives and injured dozens in the last nine years, even as hundreds of wild animals have been captured in the last three years in this central Kashmir’s Budgam district, officials said
An official from the Wildlife Department said that 6 people have been killed and 53 injured in human versus wild conflict in the last nine years in Budgam. During this period, the department has captured and rescued 622 wild animals alive, and also installed 222 cages across the district to capture the wild animals, he added.
As per the official figures of the Wildlife Warden Wetlands Division Budgam, from April 2019 to March 2020, the department captured and rescued 32 wild animals alive, and installed 53 cages across the district.
Similarly, from April 2020 to March 2021, the department caught 210 wild animals and installed 49 cages. However, from April 2021 to March 2022, 375 wild animals and five Peregrine falcons were rescued alive, while 120 cages were installed to capture the wild animals alive across the district.
An official from the Wildlife Department told Rising Kashmir that various kinds of wild animals were rescued over the last three years in the district. “The rescued wild animals include leopards, leopard cubs, bears, porcupines, snakes, jungle cats (kittens), and the Peregrine falcon (eagle),” he said.
The official also said that the people who have been killed or injured by wild animals in the last nine years have received proper compensation.
The Wildlife Department is also providing door-to-door awareness to people and is conducting awareness programmes in schools, colleges and villages, the official said, adding that the people should follow the advisories issued by the department. “In case any wild animal is sighted, people should contact the Wildlife Department so that we can catch it alive and these human-versus-wild-animal conflicts will also decrease,” he said.
