Chitwan– A tiger attacked Hari Bahadur Tamang, 59, four years ago while he had gone to the forest in search of wild mushroom. He, however, managed to escape from the clutches of tiger and returned home.
Hari, who used to raise awareness among the people about the conservation of forest and wildlife, has been showing weird behavior since that incident.
His situation looks desperate when a team reached Baluwatar-9 of Chitwan to carry out a study about the victims of wildlife attacks.
Responding to a question raised by a member of the team, Hari said, “I was attacked by the tiger when I had gone to the jungle. I bore the treatment expenses on my own and I have not got the treatment expenses yet.”
“We can imagine the life of the victims of wild animal attacks. Their life is miserable,” a team member said, “How the victims are affected by the wildlife attacks. The problems faced by the victims will also affect the family members and society as well.”
Ramu Maya Tamang, 16, daughter of Hari, said, “People say that his father is showing peculiar behavior after the tiger attack. We don’t understand what he said. He even can’t do household works.”
According to Hari’s neighbour, Devendra Thapa, 52, Hari’s health was good before he was attacked by the tiger. People can understand what he said. Now, he cannot speak properly after the tiger attack.
According to his neighbour, he spent around Rs 30,000 for his treatment.
The main problem of the people of this area is that they have to go to the forest to collect fodders and fire-woods. Devendra Thapa said people cannot afford liquefied petroleum gas to cook food.
Tek Bhatta of Kumroj-11 said that the tiger killed his 14 buffalos. He has not domesticated the buffalos after that incident.
“His only son also died in foreign land. I have been watching different programmes in the TV brought by my son that wildlife victims had got the relief. But I have not got any relief yet,” Bhatta lamented.
Rekha Kadariya, 35, of Khaireni-13, Chitwan said the tiger attacks people every year in the village.
“We have stopped going to the forest due to the terror of tiger. Instead, we buy the fire-woods to cook the food,” she said.
People residing near the forest have even not been able to the take the advantage of the forest.
People living in the buffer zone of the Chitwan National Park have largely been suffering from the wildlife in the recent time.
Though many have started the process for the relief, they have not got the relief yet, people said. Many have lost hope that they will get the relief anytime soon.
It has been found that the people residing near the jungle area are economically poor. They have to depend on forest to sustain their lives. But people these days have stopped going to the forest to collect grass and woods due to the fear of wild animals.
The increase in tiger population has become the subject of pride for the conservationist and stakeholders. The rise in the number of tigers in Nepal has send a good message at international level.
However, no one has paid attention to the problems people have been facing due to the tigers. The main challenge is to manage the tigers.
Three people had lost their lives, one in Bardiya and two in Chitwan, due to tiger attacks in the current fiscal year.
It is necessary to know the situation about the victims during the attack and after the attack. It is impossible to conserve and manage the tigers without the help of locals.
With the endorsement of third amendment of relief assistance to wildlife damage, the government has now made the provision that it will bear all the expenses of the wildlife victims.
There is a provision that the family of victims who are mauled by wild animals would get Rs10 lakh.
The tiger census report prepared in 2018 puts the number of big cats at 235, nearly double from the recorded 121 big cats in 2009.
Chitwan, Parsa, Banke, Bardiya and Shuklaphanta National Parks are the habitats of tigers in Nepal. Tigers are found in 13 countries in the world including Nepal.
