Mustang District Reports 239 Livestock Losses to Wildlife Attacks in Four Years

Mustang. In the last four years, 239 livestock have been lost to wildlife attacks in three local levels here. According to the annual data of Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) office Jomsom, 239 livestock of farmers have been lost in Baragung Muktikshetra, Gharpaong and Thasang rural municipalities here.

In the district, which is centered on agriculture, animal husbandry and tourism, animal husbandry has been practiced for years. In recent times, the habitats of yaks, chauris and sheep-goats set up in the high pastures and settlements of the region have started to be at risk from wildlife, making them unsafe.

Locals say that the traditional animal husbandry business is facing a crisis due to human-wildlife conflict. Farmers say that the traditional animal husbandry business is at risk due to losses in livestock due to attacks by snow leopards, leopards and wolves.

ACAP Chief Rajesh Gupta informed that so far, 239 livestock of 68 families in three rural municipalities have been damaged by snow leopards, leopards and wolves. According to him, in the last four financial years, 12 yaks, seven chauris, 117 goats, 38 sheep and goats, two mules and eight horses have died due to wildlife, while the rest are other livestock.

According to ACAP Chief Gupta, 31 livestock were damaged by wildlife in the first fiscal year 2079-80, 56 in fiscal year 2080-81, 86 in fiscal year 2081-82, and 66 by the end of Baishakh in the current fiscal year in the three rural municipalities here.

According to the Wildlife Damage Relief Directive, 2080 of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project has been providing relief amounts as compensation to farmers whose livestock have been damaged by wildlife. ACAP Jomsom Chief Gupta said that according to the directive, relief amounts of up to Rs 60,000 for yaks, chauris, horses and mules, and up to Rs 10,000 for sheep and goats are provided.

ACAP Jomsom has already handed over Rs 25.21 lakh as relief for livestock loss in four financial years to the affected farmers in the three rural municipalities here, he informed. According to him, Rs 5.29 lakh for the loss until Baishakh of the current fiscal year has been provided to the bank accounts of the concerned livestock owners.

Similarly, in the Upper Mustang protected by ACAP, ACAP Lo-manthang has also provided relief for livestock losses due to wildlife in the last three financial years. The ACAP Lo-manthang office stated that Rs 45.99 lakh has been provided to the bank accounts of affected livestock owners in three fiscal years.

ACAP Chief Gupta said that the animal husbandry business here is facing a crisis due to reasons such as decreasing water sources in high pastures, meadows and fields due to climate change, less grass growth in pastures, and wild animals and snow leopards coming down to settlements following prey. He said that the risk is increasing as snow leopards and other wild animals are appearing in settlements following prey due to climate change.

The ACAP office stated that wildlife continues to damage livestock because the sheds and enclosures for the livestock of the herders here lack quality and sustainable physical structures.