By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest C Budnah has said that the absence of a proper land policy in the State is one of the causes for the increasing man-animal conflict.
Pointing out that the State has large cultivation of cash crops near animal corridors Budnah recently said that the same is bound to cause a man-animal conflict.
According to Budnah, the encroachment into the territory of animals by humans has also given rise to the conflict.
It may be mentioned that many people have lost their lives due to man-animal conflict in the State.
To recall a few incidents, last year, a wildlife staff was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Lailad near the wildlife office in Ri-Bhoi district. A herd of wild elephants also killed a villager in East Garo Hills.
While stating that the elephants love cultivated crops the official said that the department spends a huge amount of money to compensate the villagers whose properties are destroyed by the wild animals.
Experts say that the wild elephants often move out of the jungles as people have encroached upon animal corridors, leading to an increasing number of elephant attacks on villages.
The Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest added that the Department is taking various measures to minimise the conflict as both animals and human beings suffer on account of the same.