The Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti (WPSS) has alleged that the persons who are responsible for the increasing man-animal conflict in the district are now trying to create insurgency in society.
The recurring incidences of wildlife attacks had triggered panic among the villagers and it posed a serious threat to the life and property of the public, the organisation said in a release here.
The leaders of successive governments should be held accountable for the present crisis as the wrong policies of the governments had led to it.
The total forest area of the district was 1,100 sqkm, of which nearly 350 sqkm had been planted with teak and eucalyptus after clear-felling the natural forest. Teak had been planted on 50,000 hectares of forestland as mono-culture in the State, of which 36,000 hectares was in Wayanad, the organisation said.
The remaining patches of forest land were now either covered with invasive alien plants such as Senna spectabilis and lantana or used for tourism. Cattle grazing was also so common inside the forest areas.
Those issues led the disturbed wildlife entering adjacent human habitations in search of food and water.
Now, the people’s representatives, including the MLA and a councillor of the ruling front, were motivating the public to attack the Forest personnel verbally and physically, the samiti alleged.
Those representatives should answer the public what steps were adopted by their parties and governments to mitigate the man-animal conflict, instead of attacking the Forest personnel.
When the government had invited suggestions from political parties, various organisations and NGOs on what steps were to be adopted to address the man-animal conflict in the district two months ago, all political parties and other organisations had kept silent, except the WPSS.
Modern training
The organisation also raised demands such as providing modern training to Forest personnel to meet any crisis, ensuring adequate compensation to farmers for their loss, setting up a Rapid Response Team in South and North forest divisions, and banning tourism as well as cattle grazing inside forest areas.
Meanwhile, the search for the wandering tiger continued in the Begur and Tholpetty forest ranges under the North Wayanad forest and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary divisions for the 21st day on Tuesday with two kumki elephants (trained elephants). But the trackers could not spot the animal.
However, no animal kill by the tiger was reported in the area in the past five consecutive days, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary warden S. Narendra Babu said.
The tiger was not included in the database of the National Tiger Conservation Authority prepared in 2018. But its camera trap image was recorded from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in September 2021 during the recent national tiger census, Mr. Narendra Babu said, adding that its image was also captured in the Rajeev Gandhi National Park at Nagarhole in Karnataka in 2020.
The combing would continue on Wednesday, Mr. Narendra Babu said. As many as 40 cameras traps, apart from a CCTV camera were installed inside the forest to monitor the movement of the elusive tiger, he said.
