Karnataka Minister Warns of Halting Bandipur Wildlife Safaris
A safari trip cancelled came into effect from October 28
BENGALURU: While asking officials concerned of various departments such as forest, police among others to work in tandem to bring down man-animal conflicts on the borders of Bandipur National Park in particular, however, Minister of Forests and Environment Eshwar Khandre on Sunday warned to order for course of safaris in Bandipur National Park if man-conflicts doesn’t see a decline in coming days.
He stated to post forest personnel working in safaris to areas where man-animal conflicts are on the rise and stated as a precautionary measure, a safari trip operating late evening has been cancelled to mitigate man-animal conflict in Bandipur National Park, also a tiger reserve. A safari trip cancelled came into effect from October 28.
In October, 3 persons came under tiger attacks in which two died and one was seriously injured on the borders of Hediyala range of Bandipur National Park. Farmer leaders sought a cancellation of safari in Bandipur stating that beaming headlights scared the wild animals especially leopards and tigers and scared wild animals stray into villages on the borders of the Park causing man-animal conflicts.
Khandre, at a meeting in Chamarajanagar on ways to deal with man-animal conflicts, stated interested youths on the periphery of Bandipur could be employed to conduct patrolling in villages and such interested youth be considered “Aranya Mitra” (Forest Friends) and avail their services in mitigating man-animal conflicts.
The Minister wanted patrolling vehicles to operate round the clock to be pressed into service in case of emergency or to drive strayed wild animals back to the forests and asked the forest officials to gain the confidence of villagers to help keep man-animal conflicts under control.
