To avoid man-animal conflict, villagers near UP's Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary stay alert

People residing in villages near the Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh are forced to stay awake at night most of the time to avoid any conflict with animals, especially leopards, which come out of the forest area in search of water. "Leopards generally stay near the fringes and often come out of the area. There are several villages near the Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary as its boundaries are in a zigzag form. The incidents increased in March and April during the crop cutting. For this, the forest department takes a lot of measures, especially officials visit these villages and make people aware of leopard movement to avoid any conflict," said Divisional Forest Officer RK Mittal. "The leopards mostly attack the villagers in the night or when they go out in open for defecation. Because of this, people are forced to stay awake at night. The administration needs to do something for the safety of people in these villages," a local resident said. Due to the heat wave conditions, the water crisis has become a big issue for most of the villages. Not just for human beings, animals too have suffered badly due to this.