This year alone, 9 people lost lives in Valley
By: Aabid Hameed
Srinagar: The man-animal conflict in Kashmir has claimed over 230 lives in the past 15 years while this year alone, a total of nine persons have died across the Valley, official data available with Precious Kashmir revealed.
There has been a steep rise in man-animal conflict here in the Valley as more and more such cases are being reported from across the Valley with each passing day.
As per the official data, from 2006 till ending Nov 2021, 233 persons have lost their lives while 2,896 persons have suffered injuries in man-animal conflict.
Officials believe that the reasons behind the rise in the incident of the conflict are increase in the human population, habitation degradation, rise in stray dogs and LoC fencing.
According to the data, in 2006-07, 18 persons have died and 134 persons have been injured in human-animal conflict in Kashmir Valley.
In 2007-08, 15 persons lost their lives and 141 were injured. In 2008-09, 22 persons died and 193 persons were injured.
In 2009-10, 20 persons died and 232 were injured and in 2010-11, 24 persons lost their lives and 306 were injured in human-animal conflict.
Similarly, in 2011-12, at least 28 people were killed and 315 were injured, the following year (2012-13) recorded 11 deaths and 259 injuries while in 2013-14, 28 deaths and 333 injuries were reported.
In 2014-15, 11 deaths and 189 injuries were reported. 10 deaths and 259 injuries were reported in 2015-16. Seven deaths, 127 injuries were reported in 2016-17 while eight deaths and 120 injuries were reported in 2017-18.
The year 2018-19 witnessed six deaths and 83 injuries while figures mount to 11 deaths and 85 injuries in 2019-20. As many as five people were killed while 87 injuries were reported in the conflict in the year 2020-21.
In ongoing year, till ending year nine persons have lost their lives while as 57 persons were injured in man-animal conflict.
Chief Wildlife Warden Suresh Gupta said that the department is facing several challenges in Jammu and Kashmir but the main challenge is man-animal conflict as bear and leopards are moving to residential areas in Kashmir, while snakes are found in houses in Jammu due to urbanization.
Gupta said in Jammu people feed monkeys in residential areas and their number has been increasing, which are later damaging crops of the people while ensuring no property loss is also a challenge.
He said people must follow the wildlife advisories in letter and spirit and instead of panicking, inform police or wildlife control rooms so that humans as well as animals can be saved.
