On the occasion of World Tiger Day, a dialogue program on tiger conservation was held between the community and stakeholders at the head office of Chitwan National Park in Kasara on Tuesday. Rajendra Prasad Mishra, secretary of the Ministry of Forests, was the chief guest of the program organized by the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department.

Rampreet Yadav, former chief conservation officer of the park, who contributed to the conservation program, was also honored on the occasion. Yadav is an employee of Chitwan Park since its inception. 

The theme of this year's Tiger Day is 'Behaviour change for co-existence and income generation, tiger conservation'. The chief guest in the program, Mishra, said that 80 percent of the incidents of encountering and attacking tigers happen when people go to forest areas where tigers live. He informed that 20 percent of incidents are caused by tigers coming into human settlements. He said that planning should be done keeping this matter in mind.

Why is the man going to the tiger area? If it is for earning, now we should give the community an option not to go to the forest," said Mishra. He said that now botanical gardens and zoos should be built in every province and small zoos in metropolitan cities. So that it is easy to see the animals there. Keeping one or two tigers in every such place also provides protection. There is also an income," said Secretary Mishra. In the

program, Senior Conservation Officer Ganesh Pant, who is the head of Chitwan Park, interacted with Central Area Management Committee Chairman Prakash Dhungana, University Forestry Institute Dean Thakur Silwal, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department Acting Director General Haribhadra Acharya and Madi Municipality Mayor Tarakumari Kazi Mahato. 

Madi Mayor Mahato said that there is a growing awareness that small and big omnivorous animals should be protected in Madi. But Madi cannot be kept in a condition without infrastructure like yesterday. The laws and regulations of the park have been hindering the construction of infrastructure. This increases the differences between the locals and the protection agencies,' said Mayor Mahato. 

Chitwan Park Central Area Management Committee Chairman  Dhungana said that in addition to conservation, the locals should be involved in livelihood. The international community may be happy about conservation, but how can we make the local community that is directly affected by it happy? We had to come up with that solution," said President Dhungana. 

Director of National Nature Conservation Fund (NTNC) Chirinjeevi Pokharel said that the rescue of wild animals is increasing. According to Thakur Silwal, dean of the Institute of Forestry Studies of the Tertiary University, it is better to keep the rescued animals in a place where they can feel a better natural environment rather than in a narrow cage like they are punished. Haribhadra Acharya, Acting Director General of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department, said that it is possible to earn money by keeping rescued animals as part of the standards and procedures of animal husbandry and zoos. Chitwan Park has the largest number of tigers in Nepal.