Shopian: There has been a significant decline in man-animal conflict this year in south Kashmir’s Shopian with wildlife department attributing it to their measures in bringing down the confrontation.
South Kashmir’s Shopian has a vast wildlife sanctuaries spread over 341 square kilometres where animals were heavily disturbed since many years due to human intrusion and large scale grazing of livestock.
This resulted in surge in incidents of wild animals entering human habitations in search of food and shelter. But this year, according to fresh data issued by Shopian wildlife division, only 180 such incidents were reported till December. Only one person was killed and two wounded compared to two deaths in 366 incidents previous year.
In-charge Control Room Wing Wildlife Division Shopian Gulzar Ahmad told Kashmir Reader that there were 200 incidents of animals entering human habitations.
The decline, according to him, occurred by adopting different methods including bringing down human intrusion in wildlife areas to avoid disturbing their habitat. .
Only twenty wild animals including eight leopards, 10 porcupines and a fox were tranquillised and freed in safe zones when they arrived in populated areas, he added.
Last year the number of animals rescued touched above 500, he added.

Raashid Hassan