Union Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has said that the Ministry would adopt strategies to mitigate the man-animal conflict in Wayanad, an integral part of the Nilgiri biosphere in the Western Ghats and contiguous to the tiger reserves of Nagarhole and Bandipur of Karnataka and Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to the media after holding a meeting with the district Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and leaders of farmer organisations at Sulthan Bathery on Wednesday, Mr. Yadav said he had visited the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) that shares a border with the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) ), prior to the visit to Wayanad as a part of drafting the strategy.
Mr. Yadav said he had discussed various issues with the wildlife managers of BTR such as their activities, habitat management programmes, and the geotagging proceedings in the reserve.
The district’s farmer organisations had submitted their grievances, demands, and short-term as well as long-term measures to be adopted to mitigate the issue. After discussing the suggestions with the Prime Minister and senior forest officials, proper strategies would be adopted to mitigate the issue.
Mr. Yadav said as the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change was working with the entire forest regions in the country and that protected areas like BTR and WWS were crucial forest regions. As per Project Elephant, there are as many as 150 elephant corridors across the country and many of them are linked to each other, Mr. Yadav said.
Mr. Yadav visited the families of those killed in wild animal attacks on Wednesday evening. The Minster will hold discussions with the district administration, local administrations, and senior forest officials at the Collectorate here at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
