Top forest official says give animals space, blames urbanisation for conflict

Pune: Man-animal conflict cannot be blamed on the animals as it is happening because humans are encroaching on their space, Sunil Limaye, additional principal chief conservator of forests, said.

“During cases of conflict, everyone holds the animals responsible. Animals need the space to thrive. We are encroaching due to urbanisation and the conflict will not end,” he said.

Limaye was speaking at a conference on Monday on Human and Wildlife Conflict: Concerns and Resolution organised by Biospheres in association with the department of botany at Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce. The conference was a part of the Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival.

Sachin Punekar, an ecologist and founder of city-based Biospheres, said urbanisation had caused distress among animals. “There has been a 35% growth in human land-use pattern. This is leading to urbanisation distress as it is pushing the animals out of their habitats and they’re moving towards cities,” he said.

Ajay Deshmukh, senior veterinary officer at Manekdoh Leopard Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Junnar, said leopards are a highly adaptive species.

“Considering that there is a lot of sugar cane plantation in the area, leopards have learnt to adapt to the new setting. They have made these sugar cane fields their home and are raising their cubs among these fields,” Deshmukh explained.

Co-existence is up to the people, he said. “People feel the leopard population is growing, when in reality they're spreading out. So, we have to decide whether we are ready to co-exist with these big cats,” Deshmukh said.

Subhash Badve, senior forest officer and an expert in grassland and pasture development, said food was one of the reasons that animals came to human dominated spaces for. “There's nothing left to eat in the jungle. There are human settlements and encroachments in forestland,” he said.

The conflict will end if food is made available to wildlife. “Grassland development is something nobody cares about. These grasslands have to be maintained and protected so the woody growth will increase and thorny spaces will increase. A working plan has to be made to protect these grasslands and the wildlife,” Badve said.

Toxicologist Sadanand Raut spoke about minimising deaths caused by snake bites. Calling it Mission Zero Snake Bite, Raut’s programme aims at survival since most deaths occur before reaching the hospital, he said.


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