A full-grown leopard strayed into Raigunj and injured 15 persons

A full-grown leopard strayed into Raigunj and triggered panic in the north Bengal town. It was finally trapped and tranquilized by foresters after a cat-and-mouse game with locals, NGO workers and cops that lasted for nearly 11 hours.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 3 January 2017.

Raigunj does not have any forest cover that can be considered ideal for leopards and there has been no sighting ever been reported from the green patches around it. In the opinion of foresters, the animal must have crossed over from Bihar. As per a Wildlife Institute of India study, Bihar at present is home to around 32 wild leopards and,experts believe that the figure could be much more because many more leopards live outside the protected areas of the state.
Two years ago, there was a similar incident of a leopard straying into an urban settlement in Siliguri. Obviously, the endangered species is fast losing ground due to rapid urbanization. A recent survey by Wildlife Institute of India has put the leopard population in India at 12,000-14,000 and, at least 50% of them live outside protected areas and are vulnerable to conflict with humans.
Data collected by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) indicates 436 leopard deaths during 2016. This includes 154 cases of poaching.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Human-animal conflict leaves 454 people and 2,261 animals (388 elephants) dead in Odisha

The human-animal conflict in Odisha over the last six years has led to death of 454 people and 2,261 animals - 388 of these were elephants, as revealed by the Forest Department. The major reason for high number of death of elephants are poaching, poisoning, accidents and deliberate electrocution.
As many as 362 persons were killed by elephants in the past six years while 92 were killed by other animals. As to injuries - a total of 157 persons were injured by elephants and 736 by other animals.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 21 October 2016.

Apart from elephants, the human-animal conflict also involved other animals like saltwater crocodiles, sloth bears, wild boars and leopards. In addition, 164 cattle have been killed by elephants, which also damaged 4,405 houses and crops over 69,071 acres.
It seems 28 jumbos were poached by hunters and wildlife smugglers, nine died due to poisoning and 60 in road and train accidents. In addition, electrocution claimed 50 lives during the period.
In order to minimize the human-animal conflict, new forests with plant species that elephants relish are being created and fresh water bodies are also being created while the existing ones are being renovated. On addition, stone walls, trenches and solar-powered wire fencing have been put up in sensitive areas to check the entry of elephants into human habitats.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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