At Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Adilabad, conservation efforts seem to be moving a step ahead only to slide back two steps.
Thanks to increasing incidence of the man-animal conflict, wild fauna are being killed with a saddening regularity defeating the very purpose for which the park came into existence.
Illegal electric wiring put around fences of agriculture fields is emerging as the biggest threat to the wild animals, though many instances of the beautiful creatures getting electrocuted go unnoticed and unreported.
Main reason
One of the main reasons for farmers discarding other methods of keeping marauding wild pigs at bay in favour of the killer wires is the 24 hour supply of power in villages. Two black bucks were found killed after they came in contact with a live wire, along with a domestic buffalo, at a field at Munial village in Kadem mandal five days back, apparently because the animals had strayed into the fields in search of water. The incident has definitely defeated the best of efforts of the Forest department in providing water to the fauna so that they do not stray too far.
Man-animal conflict
Earlier, a nilgai was electrocuted in Tapalpur as it had strayed in search of water. The Forest department did book cases in both the incidents but it may not serve as a deterrent given the level that the man-animal conflict has reached.
The incidence of electrification of fencing can be seen more in the villages which lie along the Godavari river. As villagers draw water for their fields, the wild animals are attracted towards the green stretches. The Forest Department has organised numerous saucer pits for holding water for the animals in the jungles. For example, in Jannaram division alone, there are 32 such pits being maintained by the department. “We are insisting for relocation of villages from the core area only to decrease this phenomenon,” observed Imran Siddiqui of the Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society (HYTICOS) working on tiger conservation in the area. “We have collaborated with the Forest Department in launching a poster campaign to make villagers aware of the need for protecting wild animals and the penalty in case they violate relevant laws,” he added of the effort being made to safeguard the lives of the wild fauna.
