Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Nepal: Patterns of Human Fatalities and Injuries Caused by Large Mammals

Abstract

Injury and death from wildlife attacks often result in people feeling violent resentment and hostility against the wildlife involved and, therefore, may undermine public support for conservation. Although Nepal, with rich biodiversity, is doing well in its conservation efforts, human-wildlife conflicts have been a major challenge in recent years. The lack of detailed information on the spatial and temporal patterns of human-wildlife conflicts at the national level impedes the development of effective conflict mitigation plans. We examined patterns of human injury and death caused by large mammals using data from attack events and their spatiotemporal dimensions collected from a national survey of data available in Nepal over five years (2010–2014). Data were analyzed using logistic regression and chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. The results show that Asiatic elephants and common leopards are most commonly involved in attacks on people in terms of attack frequency and fatalities. Although one-horned rhinoceros and bears had a higher frequency of attacks than Bengal tigers, tigers caused more fatalities than each of these two species. Attacks by elephants peaked in winter and most frequently occurred outside protected areas in human settlements. Leopard attacks occurred almost entirely outside protected areas, and a significantly greater number of attacks occurred in human settlements. Attacks by one-horned rhinoceros and tigers were higher in the winter, mainly in forests inside protected areas; similarly, attacks by bears occurred mostly within protected areas. We found that human settlements are increasingly becoming conflict hotspots, with burgeoning incidents involving elephants and leopards. We conclude that species-specific conservation strategies are urgently needed, particularly for leopards and elephants. The implications of our findings for minimizing conflicts and conserving these imperiled species are discussed.

GIS-Assisted Prediction and Risk Zonation of Wildlife Attacks in the Chitwan National Park in Nepal

“…If there are human farms in this area, the risk of wildlife attacks is relatively high. If the species of the attacking animal are taken into account, it is mainly wild boar, rhinoceros, and probably leopard who seek the food on fields and near human settlements which are increasingly becoming conflict hotspots [41].…”

A Framework for Assessing Impacts of Wild Meat Hunting Practices in the Tropics

“…It is not clear whether hunters currently lacking flashlights (or those for whom batteries are particularly expensive; Parry et al 2009) would increase hunting effort if they had access to them, or whether they would simply shift the timing of hunting in order to concentrate on other economic activities during daylight hours. However, a switch to nocturnal hunting is unlikely to be cost-free; moving in the forest at night exposes humans to elevated risk of wildlife attack, especially where elephants are present (Sitati and Ipara 2012;Acharya et al 2016), and working at night limits the scope for daytime activities.…”

Buffer Zone Community Forestry in Nepal: Examining Tenure and Management Outcomes

“…Fourth, occurrence of human-wildlife conflict in and around PAs in Nepal is well researched (e.g., Acharya et al 2016) and many of them have indicated that the increased forest regeneration and extended habitat in BZCFs and community forests beyond BZ, wildlife related incidents and human-wildlife conflicts have raised (Paudel et al 2007;Bowers et al 2017). In some cases, there have been increased wildlife sightings and therefore increased vulnerabilities to human-wildlife conflicts (Gaire 2006).…”