Shahjahanpur: Tigers from the Dudhwa reserve have been regularly straying into villages dangerously close to Mohammadi and Gola towns in Kheri district. Frequent incidents of man-animal conflict have seen tempers flying here. Earlier this year, locals had set up the Maheshpur range forest office on fire after a tiger had injured a resident. Now, after a couple of tigers have taken refuge in a forest just outside Dudhwa reserve very close to the towns, wildlife experts say if not resolved in time, this could lead to another backlash from the villagers.On Sunday, angry residents of Kheri’s Chaltua village located inside core area of the reserve had crushed a tigress under a tractor and later beat her to death after she attacked a local.On Monday, one of the tigers killed a buffalo in presence of a few locals near Gola range, leading to panic among residents. Those residing in Singha village near Maheshpur range say they hear tigers roaring all night.With sugarcane harvest approaching, the possibility of man-animal conflict increases as tigers, due to lack of sufficient grassland habitat, often hide in the cane fields.So far, five persons have been killed in villages adjacent to South Kheri forest division since August 2017.On September 27, villagers had set the forest range office of Maheshpur on fire after a big cat had injured a local farmer while he was working in his field. A total of 80 villagers were booked by the forest department under various sections of IPC for the incident.A recent study in Terai region by wildlife expert Rahul Shukla, a former forest official who served in Dudhwa and had recently written a book on ‘sugarcane tigers’, says that over 20% of tigers in Terai are living in cane fields of Uttar Pradesh. The movement of tigers has increased in the south Kheri forest division mainly due to the presence of thousands of stray cattle in this area, he added. He has recently shared his findings with the forest department.South Kheri divisional forest officer Sameer Patel said, “South Kheri forest division is adjacent to Mailani and Kishanpur ranges of Dudhwa tiger reserve. The movement of tigers is a common phenomenon from one forest to another until the big cat acquires its territory. We have not conducted any survey to count the stray cattle, so it would be too early to say if stray cattle have contributed to increase in movement of big cats in the region.”Field director, DTR, Ramesh Pandey said, “The possibility of man-tiger conflict increases during winters. However, we would use all our resources to minimize it. We could also take the help of special tiger protection force in cases of conflict in areas outside the reserve forests.”

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