Committee tasked to recommend measures to prevent human-animal conflict in Valparai

The Forest Department has constituted a committee to suggest specific recommendations to strengthen long-term measures to prevent negative interactions between humans and wild animals in the estate regions of Valparai plateau in Coimbatore district.

Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department, issued an order on the constitution of the committee on December 7, a day after a five-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard in a tea estate at Iyerpadi near Valparai. The committee was formed in response to a proposal from Rakesh Kumar Dogra, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden.

S. Ramasubramanian, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, will head the committee. Deputy Director of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR); Sub-Collector, Pollachi; wildlife scientist T.R. Shankar Raman from the Nature Conservation Foundation; Municipal Commissioner, Valparai; and Assistant Commissioner of Labour (Plantations) are other members.

The committee will assess ground conditions and provide specific recommendations to ensure that conservation and safety measures are effectively implemented across the Valparai region. The committee will submit its report within two weeks to the government.

A total of three children, all belonging to families of migrant workers, died in the attacks by leopard and sloth bear in the estate regions of Valparai, falling under the limits of ATR, this year.