Man-animal conflict on the rise : Two injured due to elephant and leopard attack.

MP, 20 Feb 2023, JALPAIGURI/SILIGURI: With unchecked and unplanned urbanisation, incidents of man-animal conflict have started increasing. With both animals and humans vying for space the situation gets aggravated further. 

On Monday morning two wild elephants entered ward no 1 of the Dhupguri municipality area adjoining Dangdhari Sarkar Para of Bargharia village.

The elephants attacked the locals and damaged the boundary walls of property belonging to two residents, cultivated fields, crops and houses of the villagers.Kartik Bhawal, a resident of the area, was seriously injured in the elephant attack. He was taken to the Dhupguri Hospital and was later shifted to Jalpaiguri Super Specialty Hospital. 

The forest divisional staff of Moraghat range and Binnaguri Wildlife Division along with Dhupguri police reached the spot on receiving the news of the elephant attack. 

According to the foresters, two elephants had come from the Sonakhali Forest and entered the locality. 

At present, the duo were seen roaming in the South Khairbari area. Foresters are trying to drive them back to the forest. 

“We are keeping a strict vigil. The two elephants will be driven back to the jungle later at night,” stated Subhashish Roy, ranger of Binnaguri Wildlife Squad. 

Meanwhile, a woman worker of a tea garden was seriously injured in a leopard attack while plucking tea leaves.

The incident occurred on Monday morning in the Taipu Tea Garden in the Bagdogra area of the Naxalbari block adjacent to Siliguri. 

The injured woman was identified as Fatima Lakra.A full-grown leopard attacked her from behind while she was plucking leaves. She was injured but somehow managed to free herself from the jaws of the leopard. 

Other workers immediately rushed her to the Bagdogra Rural Hospital. Later, she was taken to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. Foresters from the Bagdogra Forest range reached the area and launched a search for the leopard. In another incident, the carcass of a leopard cub was recovered from the Nathua Forest of Banarhat in Jalpaiguri. 

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/man-animal-conflict-on-the-rise-509317