Efficacy of Management Strategies against Animal Menace in District Una, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

In India also, problems of wild and stray animal damage to crops has emerged as an important management issue. Crop-raiding by locally overabundant populations of wildlife has been reported in many parts of the country. Field surveys revealed that about 30-40% of the crop is damaged by wild/stray animals. A study was conducted to ascertain the causes and efficacy of the management strategies being adopted to mitigate the animal menace in the foothills of Shiwaliks of North-Western Himalayas locally known as Kandi region in Himachal Pradesh. It was observed that neelgai is the dominant species in the area adjacent to the forests and stray cattle in other areas away from the forests. Over-exploitation of the forest resources by humans, reduction in population of carnivores, Lantana infestation in the forests and abandoning of unproductive domestic cattle were the main factors responsible for the enhanced animal menace. Among the management strategies adopted fencing was quite effective in curbing the animal menace. Most of the management strategies adopted were location as well as species specific and no single approach was able to curb the animal menace completely.