In recent years, the number of deaths due to tiger and leopard attacks in Banke and Bardiya districts has been increasing at an alarming rate. Such incidents, which are repeated every week and month, have brought serious questions not only to the victim's family and community, but also to the entire state mechanism, biodiversity conservation system and the concept of human security. Although the local government, district administration, security agencies, national parks, division forest offices and local communities are active at their respective levels, the human loss has not been practically reduced.

This situation has now passed the stage where it can be dismissed as 'accident', 'coincidence' or 'wildlife nature'. This has clearly exposed the structural weaknesses in human-wildlife conflict management, lack of institutional coordination and low use of scientific decision-making processes.

Scientific analysis of recent incidents has shown that rare, injured, old or disabled tigers seen around villages are the main factors in human attacks. Tigers are a highly territorial species, where stronger tigers displace weaker tigers from their native range. Some of the displaced tigers are injured or physically weakened and are unable to hunt naturally. When the necessary food is not available in the forest, they enter close to human settlements in search of low-risk and low-energy food. The end result of this is often human attacks.

Similarly, leopards are displaced outside the parks and buffer zones and come close to human settlements due to competition with tigers. Various studies have shown that when natural food (deer, small mammals) is not available outside the forest, leopards start preying on dogs, goats and gradually even humans. In particular, when leopards start killing dogs in an area, it is considered a high-risk signal. Thus, if tiger activity is seen in a new area, domestic animals are killed by tigers or dogs are killed by leopards – all these incidents can be taken as early warning signs and immediate study and intervention can be taken to prevent potential human losses. Failure to take such signals seriously in a timely manner is the main reason why human-tiger and leopard conflicts are becoming increasingly dangerous today.

The sighting of tiger or leopard activity in a new area is an emergency in itself. However, in practice, the tendency to consider such incidents as 'normal' still prevails. When a tiger kills cattle and buffalo or a leopard starts killing dogs in a village, immediate scientific analysis, risk assessment and continuous monitoring are necessary. Institutionally, the manpower in the National Park and Divisional Forest Office is inadequate. The working staff is busy with their own regular administrative and conservation responsibilities. All the staff lack special skills in the behavior, movement, risk assessment and control techniques of tigers and leopards. This is why both prevention before the incident and effective intervention after the incident appear to be weak.

The way forward 

The current state of human-wildlife conflict management has clearly shown the need for a system that intervenes on a scientific basis before the incident occurs, rather than a system that responds only after the incident occurs. For this, the formation and mobilization of an ‘Immediate Action Team’ is the first and essential step.

The immediate action team should be a multidisciplinary team, which should include wildlife experts, wildlife technicians, veterinarians and trained support personnel. In addition, the infrastructure of transport vehicles with dart guns, necessary medicines, technical equipment, stretchers and safe cages should be mandatory. Its main role is to study the behavior of wildlife, assess risks and prepare clear, evidence-based recommendations. It presents a report with appropriate opinions after conducting detailed studies and analyses.

The decisive unit for implementing recommendations

Study and recommendations alone are not enough to solve the human-tiger and leopard-related problems. The formation of a district-level human-wildlife conflict management unit is indispensable to implement the recommendations of the immediate action team. This unit, which will be coordinated by the Chief District Officer and will consist of representatives from the police, armed police, Nepali Army, local government, Division Forest Office and National Park, should be given clear authority to take decisions such as keeping, relocating or killing problematic tigers or leopards under control, as a last resort.

Budget and infrastructure 

In many cases, the right decision cannot be implemented due to lack of budget and infrastructure. The risk increases further when there is not enough budget for safe places to keep, feed, treat and long-term management of tigers or leopards recommended for capture. Therefore, it is imperative to arrange a permanent budget by considering human-wildlife conflict management not as a general administrative expense, but as an emergency and mandatory public security investment.

The human-tiger and leopard conflict seen in the Banke-Bardiya region is no longer just a wildlife conservation debate - it has become a serious public policy problem directly linked to human security. This problem will not be solved by emotional reactions, blame and temporary measures. Without strengthening these four foundations - scientific studies, institutional structures, clear decision-making systems and sufficient resources - it is not possible to reduce human losses. If decisive intervention is delayed even now, the blame will not be on the tigers and leopards, but on our scientific thinking and decision-making ability.