Kendrapara, April 27: Odisha government has launched a scheme to elicit timely information on spotted dear and wild animals straying into human habitation in a bid to curb man-animal conflict.
Notably, hordes of wild boar and deer species make regularly make their way into villages located on the fringes of Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district.
There has been outbreak of man-animal conflict as the wild animals destroy crops of the locals, a forest department official said.
Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya said that the department has also taken several other initiatives.
People who would inform the department about animals’ intrusion would be given cash incentive ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 500.
Though the incentive amount is not a large sum, it is a symbolic gesture recognizing people’s role in wildlife and forest conservation work, said Acharya.
Notably, such an incentive earlier to the riverside residents to keep the forest department informed of crocodiles’ trespassing into human habitation had yielded good results. Now the incentive has been extended to sighting of wild animals in non-forest areas.
Illegal fishing activity and tree felling is also being covered under the cash incentive scheme, intended to reduce the rate of man-animal conflict by chasing away the ‘sighted’ animals from agriculture fields and village areas, he said.
The incentive move was necessitated as people are not usually found forthcoming in passing on information on these animals movement otherwise.
