Panchayats seek relief for cattle loss

HOSHIARPUR: Compensation for a cattle head killed by wild beasts is emerging as a tool to conserve leopards, being killed to save cattle, in Kandi belt of Punjab, having a thick forest cover. While panchayats are demanding compensation for loss to cattle owners to protect leopard, government has not yet yielded to this demand.
The debate gained momentum within days of a leopard giving sleepless nights to the livestock rearing community, especially goat owners.During the last one week, a number of cattle heads have fallen prey to this feline. In an incident at Khanni, a village located on the fringe of the jungle about 36km from here, a week ago, three grown-up goats were killed by a leopard inside the livestock shed in middle of the night. While one of the goats was taken away by the feline, rest were found partially consumed in another shed.
"Preventing leopards from killing livestock isn't feasible as cattle have now emerged as feline's staple diet. But, for the loss that we undergo, government must compensate us wholeheartedly," said Avtar Singh who lost his goats to this Schedule-1 protected species. On Wednesday night, from the very village, a calf belonging to Dina Nath was devoured.
Sarpanch of Khanni Sukhdev Singh said to compensate the owners for their livestock loss, a proposal regarding monetary assistance of Rs 14,000 was to be submitted to the wildlife officials. In the Kandi belt of Punjab spread across Ropar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts, lifting of livestock by leopards is a common occurrence. In the nearby Kangar, Kothi, Melli, Kot, Patial, Tappa, Labbar, Koi, Naroor, Dehrian, Bahera and Ram Tatwali villages of Kandi belt, in the past, numerous instances of livestock falling prey to this big cat have come to the fore. But reportedly, the victimized owners have not been compensated by the government.
Not compensating the livestock owners has unquestionably resulted in wiping off of the already dwindling leopard's population from the area as the feline is being killed to contain the livestock loss. Hoshiarpur DFO (Wildlife), Satnam Singh, said, "So far, I haven't received the letter of proposal for compensating the livestock owners concerned." For any such compensation, it is mandatory to tag the post-mortem report of the preyed animals with the 'proposed letter of compensation'.