Ajit Tumphahamphe, head of the Nature Conservation Trust, said that due to the lack of regular monitoring and maintenance by the community, wildlife often enters settlements by climbing electric fences.
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A concrete fence has been installed to prevent elephants from entering the settlement from Bardiya National Park. Thakurbaba Municipality has installed a concrete fence to reduce the damage caused to humans and crops by elephants. The municipality has stated that there has been no damage to humans or crops by elephants or wild animals in the areas where the fence has been installed.
A 32-kilometer area of the park is connected to the municipality. Wild animals have been causing damage to most of the settlements in the municipality. This is increasing human-wildlife conflict. To solve such a problem, the municipality has constructed a 17-kilometer concrete elephant fence, said Mayor Tilak Lamsal.
‘Such a fence will reduce the damage to settlements from wild animals including elephants, deer, wild boars and others, thereby reducing conflicts between humans and wild animals,’ he said, ‘In addition, there has been an increase in food crops.’
He said that the construction of the fence was funded by the federal government, special plans of the municipality, grants from the provincial government and internal resources. So far, Rs 165 million has been spent on preparing a canal from the Babai Irrigation Project, which is about 15 kilometers long.
Chief Administrative Officer Ramhari Rijal said that the construction of the fence on an area of 3,539 meters has reached the final stage, spending Rs 450 million this year. ‘The rate of elephants destroying houses in settlements near the completed park has decreased,’ he said, ‘In addition, damage to crops is being minimized.’
Parks and conservation-related organizations have been taking various measures to prevent wildlife from entering human settlements for the past 16 years. With the help of the park, the National Trust for Nature Conservation and other organizations, electric wires and mesh have been installed repeatedly in an area of about 65 kilometers. Ajit Tumphahamphe, head of the Nature Conservation Trust, said that due to the lack of regular monitoring and maintenance by the community, wildlife often enters the settlements by breaking through the electric fence. ‘We are carrying out maintenance as soon as we receive information,’ he said, ‘Last time, we also installed mesh along with the electric wire.’
Electric fencing was installed from Khaichandanpur to Rajapur under the Constituency Infrastructure Development Program at the initiative of the then Maoist Center MP Man Bahadur Tharu. The fence was installed at a cost of about Rs 6 million. The Division Forest Office has installed 15.8 km of mesh fencing by the first week of Chaitra of the current fiscal year, said Senior Forest Officer Ramgopal Chaudhary.
In the past few years, community forests have started installing mesh wire fencing along with wire mesh to prevent human casualties due to leopard attacks. The Khata Forest Coordination Committee has stated that 400 lights have been installed in forest paths and settlements to reduce human casualties on the Khata biological route. Committee chairman Hari Gurung said that 10 CC cameras have been installed to monitor wildlife.
Bardiya National Park has estimated that there are about 120 forest elephants. The park's Chief Conservation Officer Dr. Ashok Ram said that elephants that have been kept in Nepal for 25 years have killed 7 people so far. He said that 357 people have died in attacks by wild elephants in Nepal during the same period.
