LUCKNOW: The man-animal conflict has once again raised its ugly head. A 60-year-old man is the latest casualty to the big cat.
According to officials, the incident took place in Katarniaghat on Thursday morning. The fact that the body was intact and not consumed by the big cat gives some sense of respite to forest officers in the area.
"This is not a case of man-eating," said MK Shukla, Range Officer, Katarniaghat. 60-year-old Saligram, resident of Belahanpura village, was killed at around 10:30 on Thursday morning, when he had gone to work in his sugarcane field. The man had gone alone to the field.
The pugmarks found around the body appear to be of a tigress. In all possibilities, the tigress was already present in the dense sugarcane field, when the man reached the spot and was attacked by the tigress in retaliation.
The man had injury marks on his neck and died of excessive bleeding. A compensation of Rs 10,000 was released immediately to his family. Another Rs 1 lakh as compensation will be given by the state government once the formalities are done. The incident took place in compartment 4 of Sadar beat near Girijapuri barrage. The incident of this nature has not occurred in the area in recent past.
But the villagers have been alerted to follow precautions while venturing into sugarcane fields, especially when alone. When men move in groups, they mostly alert the tiger of their presence and in that case the big cat will avoid coming close to them.
Katarniaghat has a sizable population of big cats, both tigers and leopards. The tigers being present in sugarcane field is a common phenomenon in terai belt. Mostly, tigress with cubs are present in the fields. The killings taking place during the day are mostly the ones where tigers charge in retaliation when they are consciously or unconsciously disturbed.
In most of the incidents, where tigers have killed men in the recent past, big cats have not ventured out of the forest area. On the contrary, men have entered forests and got killed.
The officers said that since tigers live in the core area of the forests, they do not venture out of forest unless they turn into compulsive maneaters.
The forest department has increased the vigil in the area in order to avoid even the remotest chance of a similar incident happening again. The area has some villages in its vicinity.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
After tigers, Pilibhit forest to see survey for other fauna
The forest cover of Pilibhit in Western Uttar Pradesh — its tigers and the rich reserve of flora and fauna — has become a hub for wildlife enthusiasts.
A team of experts from the Wildlife Research Institute (WRI) will be camping in the region to understand and survey the fauna of the Terai region. This is the third team which will be studying this region in the last six months. Earlier too, teams from the Wildlife Trust of India have surveyed the area to assess the tiger habitat.
According to official information, the team is headed by Dr Barry Richard Noon, a professor in the department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins. A Fulbright scholar, he lecturing on Data Collection and Analysis for Wildlife Conservation at WTI at Dehradun.
The two-member team, which will be spending nearly a month in the region, will be studying Ungulate herbivore species of antelopes and deer like the Rusa Unicolour (Sambhar), Hard hoofed swamp deer (Barahsingha), Four-horned Antelope (Chausingha or Tetracerus quadricornis) and Hog Deer (Axis porcinus). The study will determine their presence, population and also, the suitable environment for their breeding. It will correlate the presence of these species with the increasing area of the tigers in the region.
This is the first time that so many teams will be surveying the forest in the district. Giving details, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Pilibhit, VK Singh, said: “We have had one or two teams which were so far understanding the region as a tiger terrain. But recent findings have shown that there is a good population of smaller animals like deer, which primarily are also the prey for the tigers, in the region. Hence, experts have started coming in from various institutes to study all these factors.”
A team of experts from the Wildlife Research Institute (WRI) will be camping in the region to understand and survey the fauna of the Terai region. This is the third team which will be studying this region in the last six months. Earlier too, teams from the Wildlife Trust of India have surveyed the area to assess the tiger habitat.
According to official information, the team is headed by Dr Barry Richard Noon, a professor in the department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins. A Fulbright scholar, he lecturing on Data Collection and Analysis for Wildlife Conservation at WTI at Dehradun.
The two-member team, which will be spending nearly a month in the region, will be studying Ungulate herbivore species of antelopes and deer like the Rusa Unicolour (Sambhar), Hard hoofed swamp deer (Barahsingha), Four-horned Antelope (Chausingha or Tetracerus quadricornis) and Hog Deer (Axis porcinus). The study will determine their presence, population and also, the suitable environment for their breeding. It will correlate the presence of these species with the increasing area of the tigers in the region.
This is the first time that so many teams will be surveying the forest in the district. Giving details, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Pilibhit, VK Singh, said: “We have had one or two teams which were so far understanding the region as a tiger terrain. But recent findings have shown that there is a good population of smaller animals like deer, which primarily are also the prey for the tigers, in the region. Hence, experts have started coming in from various institutes to study all these factors.”
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