Human-wildlife Conflict: Sustainability of Electric Fencing as mitigation measure in Paro Dzongkhag.

Abstract

This participatory research have been conducted to understand the perception, level of tolerance and attitude towards HWC and overall wildlife conservation policies, assess type and extent of damages caused by human-wildlife conflict in Paro, to study the distribution probability of wild pig (Sus scrofa) using MaxEnt & impact of climate on the its habitat distribution in Bhutan, and finally to understand the effectiveness of Electric Fencing in mitigating Human-wildlife conflict. The data was collected in a face-to-face interview with household members through snowballing methods of sampling 105 households.

The overall mean age of the respondents was 47.97 with age ranging from 18 to 78 years old. All 100% of the respondent has been in conflict with the wild animal and majority of the conflict 98.1%was related to crop raiding while 1.9% faced conflict related to cattle predation. According to the study it was found that whopping 97.1% of the respondent experienced conflict with the wild pig, while 73.3% experienced conflict with deer. 65.7% of them named wild pig as the most destructive wild animal, while 20% and 14.3% named deer and white capped langur respectively as the most destructive animal in the study area.

The respondents saw increase income from minimum of Nu.7000/- to the maximum of Nu.315000/- after electric fencing. After electric fencing, 20% of the respondent lost their crops to the wild animal while 80% did not lose any crops after electric fencing of their land. Potatoes was the main crop that was lost after electric fencing, the total valuation of crops lost among 21 household after EF is around Nu.369550/-. After electric fencing, 83 Household or respondent saw increase in production of potatoes, while 38 households saw and increase in production of paddy and cabbage crop. 99% were satisfied with the performance of the electric fencing and similarly 100% of the respondent were willing to recommend electric fencing as mitigation measures in combating human-wildlife conflict in Paro Dzongkhag.

Majority of the respondent 98.1% were aware of the Rules while only 2.9% of the respondent were ignorant of the Forest & Nature Conservation Rules, 2017. 58.1% of the respondent felt that the HWC situation in Bhutan was moderately severe, while 39%of the respondent felt the HWC cases was very severe. 100% chose for Electric Fencing materials to be provided at subsidized and did not opt for other 4 option such as compensation, kill problem animals, catch and relocate wild animals etc. Using the MaxEnt model it was found that the bioclimatic factor precipitation and temperature played a significant role in the habitat distribution of wild pigs in Bhutan.

-