Increasing Interference of Stray and Wild Animals in Farming: Reflections from Western Himalayan Foothills

The problem of animal menace is a burning issue and has direct bearing on the socio-economic conditions of the people in general and farming community in particular. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the various aspects of animal menace such as animal species responsible, frequency of crop raiding, extent and degree of menace and crop damages. The study is based on the primary data collected from 60 farm households selected through three stage random sampling technique in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.The results revealed that cattle, monkey, wild boar, and were the major animal species associated with crop damages. Among these, sambar nilgaithe problem of cattle was reported to be of relatively recent origin (2-5 years) compared to wild animals' menace (5-10 years). During 2009-2015, there had been a significant increase in animal population from 1.68 to 8.53 in case of stray cattle and 5.66 to 29.48 for wild animals with monkey as dominant species. As far as degree of menace was concerned, the problem of wild animals was more serious compared to the stray cattle. Further, among the wild animals the degree of monkey menace was the major concern round the year.