Prime Intention of the Blog

"People without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees and wildlife is almost as helpless".

I still remember my childhood days when I used to visit Dandeli a place where even my father started his professional career and also where my most of the relatives were staying.Even though I never brought up in Dandeli no one could stop me to go there since it was just two hours journey from my native. And during every visit I used to get the scoldings from my father and relatives since I used to spend most of the time in forests than in house.So as I grown up my visit to Dandeli became very less except twice or thrice in a year since I became busy with studies but always I had in my mind that I should contribute something to these magnificent forests which inspired me a lot to fall in love with the Conservation.So it is just an attempt from my side to create awareness to save these magnificent animals and landscapes they exist in.If this blog contributes in a small way to achieve this goal I will be the most happiest person in this world.
This blog mainly focuses towards conservation activities in and around Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve.This blog doesn't provide any information regarding tourism and its related activities in and around Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve.

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Friday, December 17, 2010

Man, leopard coexist in Khanapur jungles

 Khanapur could very well serve as model for authorities to resolve manleopard conflict that has been dogging forests.

Though Khanapur jungles boast a healthy leopard population, there have been few cases of the big cats straying into villages over the last three decades.


The reason is attributed to a well preserved habitat, prey base and awareness on the part of villagers.


There are dozens of hamlets in the pockets of Khanapur jungles. Though villagers have many stories of attacks by bears, bisons, elephants and snake bites, there has not been a single case of leopard attack.


A couple of years ago, Ramesh Shankar Patil, a gram panchayat member and resident of Chapoli village located deep in the Khanapur jungles was attacked by a bear and was compensated by the forest department. There are a dozen leopards moving around Chapoli and surrounding forests and are even spotted in the village at nights. Yet, they have never attacked human beings.


Deputy conservator of forests Girish Hosur says there are three reasons for mananimal conflicts. ''Lack of prey base, shortage of forest area and fragmentation of habitat,'' he says. In humananimal conflicts, the question about who is trespassing whose territory crops up, he says. Hosur says the leopard is a territorial animal and keeps to its territory which it marks with its urine. In most cases, humans have encroached forest areas and so wild animals like leopards have very little place to claim to be theirs. This is the reason for the conflict, he says.


As far as Khanapur jungles are concerned, it is huge, has a good prey base and has everything that ensures that leopards don't confront human beings, says Hosur. He says villagers too are aware of forest laws and prefer not to disturb wildlife. Though a couple of incidents of leopards attacking cattle had been report some time ago, they were attributed to cattle straying into the jungles, he says.

An edited version of this article can be read from the link below:

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