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Wild animals creating panic in Uttarakhand

DEHRA DUN: Panic prevails in the Rishikesh, Hardwar, Chidderwala, Doiwala and Bahadrabad areas of Uttarakhand as herds of wild elephants and neel gai from the adjoining Rajaji National Park raid the villages in search of fodder every night.

Besides destroying crops, the animals also pull down structures used for storing fodder and houses. The rampaging animals have killed over a dozen persons in the area over the past two years. The victims are usually those who try to scare away the animals from their fields.

“Repeated pleas to the State Forest and Wildlife officials to prevent the animals from entering human habitats have evoked no response and we are left to either lose crops or get killed,” said two concerned resident of Missarwala, Bashir and Sewak Ram.

Senior forest officials when contacted said they were planning to erect electric fencing near villages to keep the animals confined to the forests.

The main reason behind animals raiding the villages is an acute shortage of fodder and water in the forests. “The Government should immediately order large-scale plantation of fodder trees, digging up of ponds and placement of salt licks to keep the animals satisfied inside the forests. This and the electric fence could jointly keep the animals away from villages,” said a wildlife lover, Rohit Rautela.

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