With incidents of wild animals in creasingly straying into human settlements across Goa, the State government on Tuesday said it will draft a Human–Animal Wild life Conflict Management Policy and study models adopted in Kerala and Kar nataka before finalising a framework. Forest Minister Vishwa jit Rane informed the Leg islative Assembly that the government is open to cre ating a dedicated policy to address the growing prob lem and will examine best practices followed in other states. Replying to a starred question tabled by Bicholim MLA Chandrakant Shetye regarding the monkey men ace in Latambarcem and Sal villages in his constitu ency, Rane said the govern ment has no objection to framing a structured policy to tackle human–wildlife conflict. “We have no issue in drafting a Human-Animal Wildlife Conflict Manage ment Policy. We will study the policies adopted in Kar nataka and Kerala and im plement the best practices followed by other states as well,” Rane said. He added that the Forest Department will formally write to authorities in both states to obtain their policy documents and study their approach.
The government intends to place a framework for the proposed policy before the end of the ongoing Assem bly session after discussions with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The issue came up during the debate after Leader of Op position Yuri Alemao urged the government to introduce a comprehensive policy similar to those implemented in Ker ala and Karnataka, noting that those states have dedicated budgets and structured mechanisms to deal with increas ing wildlife attacks. Highlighting the seriousness of the problem, Rane said several wild animals are increasingly venturing into hu man habitations. “I know this is a serious issue. It is important for us to create the right ecosystem within forest areas so that wild life remains within its natural habitat,” he said. The Minister informed the House that the government has made a provision of Rs 3.30 crore to address human animal conflict in the State. He also said the Forest Department will undertake map ping of hotspots affected by the monkey menace and com pile detailed data to help design targeted mitigation meas ures. On the specific complaints from Latambarcem and near by areas, Rane said forest officials inspected the sites after receiving complaints from residents and also assisted the Directorate of Agriculture in assessing crop damage caused by monkeys. Villagers, he said, have been advised not to feed monkeys and to spread awareness through local WhatsApp groups while sensitising travellers in order to discourage the ani mals from entering residential areas. During the discussion, legislators Altone D’Costa and Delilah Lobo also flagged concerns over increasing wildlife intrusions in several parts of the State, stating that mon keys are destroying crops and fruit-bearing trees in resi dential areas and farms, causing heavy losses to farmers. They urged the government to undertake plantations of fruit-bearing trees and saplings in forest fringe areas to help reduce the movement of monkeys into villages.
