Not giving in to attacks, Chitwan locals continue to engage in the conservation of wild animals

Narayan Dhungana (Chitwan) / May 15: The eternal battle of man versus wild has been going on across the world for ages.

And it is a similar struggle taking place between the local residents and wild animals for long at Patihani in the eastern area of Chitwan adjoining the buffer zone of the Chitwan National Park.

So much so, in the battle that is for existence, around a dozen people lost their lives last year alone, half a dozen others were injured and crops worth thousands of rupees destroyed.

But, that does not deter the locals. They are constantly taking care of wild animals in the knowledge that wild animals are their assets that play important role in maintaining bio-diversity.

Not relenting to the attack by a bear, local resident Mithu Maya Chhetri, 55, devoted herself to the conservation of wild animals. Chhetri was attacked by a bear eight years ago when she had gone to the buffer zone to collect green fodder.

Although she struggled herself to free from the clutch of the wild animal, it was only some time later that her friends came to her rescue when they found her lying on the ground with her face scratched.

She recovered after days of treatment at Bharatpur Hospital and spending more than Rs. 150,000. She lost her original beauty of the face and body strength forever, and also got one of her hands fractured. Now she has got her original teeth replaced with dentures as a result of the attack. “I cannot work properly as one of my hands got fractured in the attack,” she says.

“However, I do not have any sense of revenge for what I am living with due to the attack. Wild animals are our valuable assets and I work day in day out to conserve them,” Chhetri says.

Chhetri is also mindful of how money can be earned through the conservation of wild animals by attracting tourists. “We can earn money as well by attracting tourists if wild animals are conserved,” she says.

Chhetri is not only the lone person devoted to the conservation of wild animals. Many locals particularly those attacked by wild animals earlier have followed suit and among them are Indra Dev Tiwari, Saraswati Tiwari and Bala Bhadra Poudel.

They sustained different sorts of injuries on their body parts in wild animal attacks, but are constantly involved in conserving wild animals.

The area housing human settlements adjoins the buffer zone of the CNP and wild animals straying from the CNP often enter the settlements, destroy crops and in some cases attack locals.

According to a data with the CNP, nine people were killed in wild animal attacks last year alone and 19 injured and crops worth thousands of rupees were destroyed.

In 2071 BS, 10 local people were killed in wild animal attacks and six injured, the data says.

CNP information officer Nurendra Aryal lauds the efforts of the locals to work day and night to conserve wild animals. Their efforts have paid off and incidents of smuggling and poaching of wild animals have decreased drastically—to almost zero now from 750 on average a year in the past, Aryal says.

On the part of CNP, its chief conservation officer Ram Chandra Kandel says that efforts were on to check conflict between human and wild animals.

He adds that works are going on to fence the CNP boundaries with wire mesh and solar barbed wire to prevent wild animals from straying into human settlements.

Contribution to sanitation

Besides, they have invested in sanitation too. Works like clean up of the Rapti river and digging pond at Patihani are going on at the initiation of local people in a bid to conserve wild animals and ecology. “Wildlife cannot be conserved until we conserve the environment. And tourists will not make it to see wildlife if they are not conserved properly. So we have rolled up sleeves to this effect,” says local resident Ramraj Tiwari.

In a symbol that apparently would help check conflicts between wild animals and human, a rhino statue has been established at Ghattagain at the initiation of local Tharu, Darai and Majhi communities.

Local resident Dilram Bhote says that they believe that establishment of the statue would help with the conservation of wild animals.

Locals here are also working on the construction of a pond inside the CNP for wild animals to swim and take a bath.

Chairman of the Patihani branch of the Environment and Tourism Development Committee Apil Ghimire says that works have started to plant tree saplings along the banks of the Rapti river and establish a lawn for wild animals to graze. RSS