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“An Approach to Man Animal Conflict Mitigation in Bhutan with reference to Thrumshingla National Park: 

“An Approach to Man Animal Conflict Mitigation in Bhutan with reference to Thrumshingla National Park

Introduction: 

Introduction Bhutanese have treasured the natural environment and have looked upon it as the source of all life. This traditional reverence for nature has delivered Bhutan into the 20th century with an environment still richly intact. Buddhism was probably introduced in the 2nd century

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Guru Rinpoche is one of the most important figures in Bhutan's history, regarded as the second Buddha first visit of Guru Rinpoche in the 8th century.

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In the past the low population has led to the peaceful existence of both people and the animals as the resources were in abundance. with the change in the time, ethical tolerances that have existed then are no more in reality. growing population, the pressure on the nature concern with regard to the present and future conservation strategies. With the phase of time and country’s growing economy, the expansion of the urbanization is at an alarming rate, which results to the encroachment and destruction of the forest. .

Protected areas of Bhutan: 

Protected areas of Bhutan 26.23% of the country’s area is protected through National Parks, Sanctuaries and conservation reserves. In addition, 9 percent of its total area (3,804 sq.km) under biological corridors, which connects all for the conservation of wildlife and biodiversity.

Protected Areas and Biological corridors.: 

Protected Areas and Biological corridors.

Legislation and Policies on Conservation.: 

Legislation and Policies on Conservation. The overall policy objectives of the Royal Govt. of Bhutan for Biodiversity conservation are to integrate nature conservation into the economic development plans with an emphasis to support protected area system and their buffer zones.

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In 1995, the 73rd session of the National assembly passed a resolution that Bhutan must maintain at least 60% under forest cover. As a result, the 1974 National forest policy states that 60% of the land area of Bhutan should be under forest cover and recognizes creation of National parks and wild life sanctuaries and a long term strategy to protect the flora and fauna.

Man animal conflicts : 

Man animal conflicts The word ‘conflict’ is defined as ‘an incompatibility between opinions or principles’ ‘a situation that arises because of differences in perception, attitude and insufficient understanding, mostly, on part of the wiser party.’ ‘any conflict that arises where the behaviour of one (either people or wildlife) is unacceptably disadvantageous to the other’. “negative interactions between wildlife and humans”.

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With the increase in wild life population in response to protection, human-wildlife conflict also has increased. The occurrence of the human –wildlife conflict is irrespective of the protected and the non protected areas.

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large-scale forest degradation, rapid infrastructure development and population explosion, conflicts between domestic stock and wild carnivores have increased. If conflicts are handled improperly, they can be sources of continued public frustration,

Livestock Kill in 2004: 

Livestock Kill in 2004 WildanimalKill number. Tiger125 Snowleopard23 Leopard499 Bear65

Types of conflicts: 

Growing antagonism (some animal not good Types of conflicts Killing of livestock House damage Kiling and injury of animal Accidental killing Damage to Agri Culture crop Killing of Humans

Man-Animal Conflict atThrumshingla National Park : 

Man-Animal Conflict at Thrumshingla National Park Situated at the very heart of the nation and covering 768 sq. km, The park covers parts of Bumthang, Mongar, Lhuntse and Zhemgang dzongkhags. The park is home to some 1000 local residents. Pristine forests ranging from alpine to subtropical broadleaf combine with dramatic mountains, snow leopards, tigers, red pandas and rare plants to create a globally important and unique habitat.

Area: 

Area B L M Z

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Some of the important wildlife species include Red panda, Leopard, Himalayan black bear, tiger, musk deer, Barking deer, wild boar, wild dog and fox. The park contains one of the richest temperate forests in the eastern Himalayas with fir forests as old as 400 years old which form contiguous habitat for tiger distribution in Bhutan.

Area and community: 

Area and community The park and its peripheral areas are settled by the communities of eight gewogs (Block) of four dzongkhags (District), who subsist on farming and livestock rearing. Forest resources used for year round cattle grazing.

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The overall aim of the Park is to reduce potential conflicts between local community needs and conservation objectives The management plan of the park is formulated with an objective to mitigate issues related with Wild-life people conflicts, grazing, land tenure, alternative sustainable livelihoods, indigenous knowledge and systems, and ecotourism prospects, to conserve biodiversity of Thrumshingla.

Man animal conflict at TNP.: 

Man animal conflict at TNP. due to the minimum disturbance caused by the residents within and in the buffer zones to the habitat, the prey base is considered to be balanced. Therefore the conflict related to the Tiger is very minimum though not absolutely nil. minimum disturbance caused is credited to the rugged terrain which makes it impossible for the human habitation into the tigers habitat.

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main problem of the man animal conflict is caused by the wild dogs(Cuon alpinus) and the Leopard(Panthera pardus). The main reason for the conflict from the wild dog is that the wild dogs are occasionally found in groups and with the combined effort, it easily kills the livestocks specially and the cattle’s become the victim. As the people in the adjoining areas are dependent more on livestock produces, this type of the loss caused by the wild life becomes a huge burden on the part of poor farmers.

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“the pregnant cows are more susceptive to the wild dog attack, and the reason is that it becomes very problematic to escape with the fetus inside and also local people believe that the cows after conception of the young one releases some secretions which the wild dogs can sense , and becomes easy for detection and more easy in capturing after detection.”

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This is also more prone to the buffer zones and areas adjoining the protected areas. Since the grazing occurs in the park and the park which is well protected becomes a safe home for carnivores and equally more attractive to the cattle’s by the palatable species like Arundinaceae, Grass spp, in abundance, these areas are preferred by both the prey and predators which over laps and results to kill. These types of cases due to wild dog are more prevalent in the Ura gewog.

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Second most prevalent conflict with the leopard. The park being with full of undulations and the rugged terrain provides a very safe and good habitat for the leopards. The conflict caused by the leopard kill is more on sheep ad horses and its preference to these species over other animals are not yet known For example, In one winter night, during 2003, the leopard has entered to the shed where sheep are kept and killed 19 sheep.

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park provides with abundant prey species like, barking deer, Pigs, it still prefers sheep. ? Also the horse which the wild dogs neglect due to its in competency to kill often becomes the prey of the leopard. One reason for this could be that due to the connection of the places all-round the villages in recent times, the utility of the horses has become low and are left freely without the owners care.

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The other type of conflict which exist in TNP and its adjoining areas are the crop depredation by the wild animals. The crop depredation in the areas adjoining the park which are at higher altitudes is a serious problem as the climate at the high altitude zones does not support long growing season.

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The buckwheat just before ripening becomes a great attractant due to its sweetness in taste to the Himalayan bear which over a night destroys hectares of crop. The Himalayan black bear also causes a huge loss as it enters the apple orchard The cold nights of guarding the crops from it just makes the people get frustrated and in return people adopt various means for trapping the animal.

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Wild boar is the greatest enemy of the residents of the area who cultivates potatoes as their cash crop. From the day one of their sowing , one need to guard In the areas where wild boar is present, every farmer faces the problem in getting a full crop without being destroyed by boar at least once.

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Apart from the buffer zone, the park has migratory cattle herders having the grazing rights since long time back known as tsamdro. This practice of tsamdro in the park area gives rise to the cattle kill by the higher predators.

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The predation of these cattle’s suppresses the compassion of the herders and they try to take revenge by killing the animals belonging to same species. In this process the species of the animals irrespective of the one which caused harm have the equal chances of getting killed and especially when the tigers or wild dogs kill the breed of mithun, people really gets out of tolerance level and react to the predators.

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This has caused a great concern to the park management. As the park area has a large biological corridors, under non protected area the animals keep moving in the ranges which makes their lives at risk too leading to the conflict both in the protected and non protected areas. From this it is understood that in the places where the habitat is same and the protected and non-protected are linked up by the biological corridors, the conflict chances are equal.

Causes of the conflict: 

Causes of the conflict There are some common field between Man and animal, which ultimately leads to conflict due to resource limitation like: SPACE: FOOD: SHELTER: Increasing population of human beings. Loss of forest. Decrease in quality of forest Developmental activities . Demand for animal parts

Trend of the conflict at TNP: 

Trend of the conflict at TNP

Problems related to conflict : 

Problems related to conflict A predator, especially tiger and leopard, causes significant economic and social losses, exacerbating farmers’ low income status and lack of economic prospects. Farmers regularly – and illegally – kill these carnivores, while livestock degrades the park’s habitats.

.: 

. Grazing in the park area Cultivation of crops in forest fringes Livestock depredation Compensation problems

Conflict mitigationReaction and Preventive methods.: 

Conflict mitigation Reaction and Preventive methods. Creation of physical barrier. (wall & fencing) Habitat enrichment Preventive spatial separation (by wall formation) . Awareness and education Driving away wild animals Removing problem animals Killing of problematic animals . Law enforcement . Compensation scheme/compassionate grant Capacity to respond Compensation

Issues of Conflict mitigation: 

Issues of Conflict mitigation Conservation Vs development. Compensations

Future strategy.: 

Future strategy. . Attitudinal change Habitat restoration of wild animals -Capacity building . Wildlife management plan Research Involvement of all stake holders

Suggestions.: 

Suggestions. Compensation. Integrated Conservation Development Program (ICDP) Ecotourism Awareness creation

Working towards co-existence.: 

Working towards co-existence. The long term strategies should aim at reducing the interface between people and wild animals. This can be done by setting up exclusive reserves for wild animals and enriching the same with food and water. Alternative arrangements need to be made for meeting the requirements of the people and the livestock to reduce their dependence on the wildlife habitats. This calls for eco-development works. However, long-term strategies are time consuming and sometimes difficult to implement.

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These should be based on the following strategies: Addressing those aspects of the life styles of the people which make them vulnerable to depredation by wild animals. Identifying and removing a problem animal when it becomes a liability. People must be made to realize their role in the conflict and persuaded to play an active role in protecting their own lives and property. No government can protect better than the fringe residing communities

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The park is estimated to have around 2,000 people and 11,000 in its buffer zone. Overgrazing and human interference are the most serious conservation issue involving as much as 80 per cent of the forest. SO………CO-EXISTENCE……….. ………….or…NON-EXISTENCE…….?

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Coexixtence Non-existence