Culling in Himachal Pradesh creates problems in Punjab

Jalandhar : Alarmed by the spillover of wild animals such as leopards to Punjab’s human habitats from the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, where permits have been issued for shooting of monkeys, wild boars, etc, the state wildlife authorities have decided to take up the issue with the authorities concerned in the neighbouring state. In recent weeks, some leopards have been found either killed or wandering around in the Punjab area, adjacent to Himachal Pradesh. There are reports that troupes of frightened monkeys, whose shooting has been allowed for a limited period in Himachal Pradesh, have made their way to some parts of Punjab along the boundary of the hill state. Already, people in Punjab’s areas along the Himachal boundary have been facing monkey and wild boar menace. The number of monkeys in the Nangal belt and at a ‘bir’ near Patiala is in thousands. Likewise, there is a huge population of wild boars in the Nurpur Bedi belt and Kandi areas starting from Pathankot to Syalva Majra near Kurali. Besides this, blue bulls and sambars also often make it to various villages from the hilly region.

However, following the beginning of the culling of monkeys and other animals in Himachal Pradesh during the past one week, there are reports that monkeys have entered in big number in the Nangal-Anandpur Sahib belt and also some areas of Morni hills in Haryana. Officials of the Wildlife Department say that owing to disturbing of the natural habitat of wild animals in Himachal Pradesh, wild cats have started making frequent excursions to human habitats in Punjab’s territory along the Himachal boundary. One leopard was killed two days ago near Hoshiarpur. Another was found dead near Nurpur Bedi. People often complain to wildlife officials regarding the sighting of leopards in the forest regions of Hoshiarpur and Ropar districts. Asked in this regard, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Gurbaz Singh said, “We will write to the Himachal Pradesh Wildlife Department authorities with regard to the spillover of wild animals. When frightened, wild animals run to safe places such as Punjab,” he said. The Himachal Pradesh officials would also be asked to give the number of leopards and their habitat near the Punjab boundary. “From the number of leopards, we will be able to assess the problem of wild animals especially carnivores, which can harm human beings,” said Gurbaz Singh. “We have planned some measures to check the spillover,” he said.