‘Only treating symptoms, not the disease’: Experts criticise Karnataka govt’s leopard task force

A senior forest official on condition of anonymity said, “It looks like we are only treating the symptoms and not the disease. We have forgotten the causes for these wildlife incursions into human habitations. Degradation and fragmentation of habitats are the major reasons behind this. Lack of space for growing wildlife population given the limited space within the existing protected areas and national parks is one of the factors which the government is not thinking about.”

Former principal chief conservator of forest (head of forest force), Karnataka, B K Singh said the government could have widened the scope of the elephant task force which was set up recently. “Unlike tigers, leopards share human areas. The areas occupied by humans during the day are visited by leopards during the night. Task force should take up awareness campaigns like what precautions are to be taken if one ventures out in the darkness alone, precautions to be taken for municipal waste disposal, food thrown by eateries, management of stray dogs etc.”

He added, “Recently, the government created task forces in Kodagu, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Mysuru to deal with elephant-related conflicts. Exclusive task force for leopards in Mysuru is nothing but duplication. The scope of the elephant task force should be widened to cover all wildlife-related conflicts,” he explained.

The task force will be headed by Deputy Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, Mysuru circle, and will comprise 58 forest personnel. The force has been split into four units and each unit has been tasked to patrol the conflict-prone areas. The control room of the task force has been set up in Mysuru and will be functional 24×7.

The forest department said that the phone number of the control room will be shared with the public soon. The department will also procure five vehicles equipped with a public address system mechanism, siren and searchlights.

On January 26, forest officials had captured a leopard that killed an 11-year-old boy at Horalahalli in Mysuru district’s T Narsipur taluk on January 21. Notably, on January 20, 60-year-old Siddamma was attacked when she had gone out to fetch firewood. Earlier, a 22-year-old man, Manjunath, was killed at Ukkalagere near the Mallikarjunaswamy Hill on October 31, 2022 and Meghana (22) at S Kebbehundi on December 2.

The state forest department has also submitted a proposal to the Karnataka government to establish multiple rehabilitation centres for leopards and tigers captured from man-animal conflict zones in the state.