'Bagh Mitras' to help check man-animal conflict

Pilibhit, March 18 The World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India), in coordination with the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), has formed an outreach team of "Bagh Mitras" to tackle the increasing number of man-tiger conflicts.

The team will report tiger straying incidents and conflicts to forest personnel to initiate prompt rescue operations.

A total of 120 volunteers, who have been selected from the villages falling under the eco-sensitive zone of PTR, and were given a two-day training at Lucknow Zoo by its deputy director, Utkarsh Shukla and chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Singh, earlier this week.

As part of the training schedule issued by the state forest administration, Bagh Mitras will be trained to understand animal behaviour and human-wildlife coexistence.

In addition, techniques of rescuing and caging stray tigers and leopards will be taught.

Naveen Khandelwal, the divisional forest officer of PTR, said: "Bagh Mitras will also disseminate awareness regarding safety measures, ways to avoid tiger attacks and facilitate their safe retreat into the wild."