Kanchanpur. The construction of a wildlife rescue center to rescue and house animals including tigers and leopards in Arjuni, the eastern area of Shuklaphanta National Park, has reached the final stage. Two rescue centers are being built with an investment of more than 10 million rupees from the National Nature Conservation Trust.
The construction of infrastructure for the center has reached the final stage, said Laxmi Raj Joshi, head of the Kanchanpur office of the Trust. ‘The work of connecting drinking water, electricity, and CCTV is yet to be done,’ he said. ‘Roads (access roads) are being constructed all around the center, but the work of putting up a fence is yet to be done.’
Although the construction of the physical infrastructure of the center is nearing completion, he mentioned that donor agencies are being sought for other works. “The necessary budget is yet to be allocated for the provision of food for the animals including tigers and leopards rescued from the buffer zone of the park,” said Office Chief Joshi. “Work has to be taken forward for its management.”
Purushottam Bagle, Information Officer of Shuklaphanta National Park, said that the park office has provided technical support and land management for the construction along with permission for the construction. “NTNC has done all the infrastructure construction work,” he said. “The center will be completely constructed within one to two months.”
He said that the tigers and leopards rescued from the buffer zone will be kept at the center and after health check-ups and treatment, they will be released to a safe place. He said that after rescuing and bringing back the man-eating tigers and leopards, they will be kept in the center until their behavior improves and then released to a safe place.
According to him, rescuing the stray, disabled, injured and problematic animals and keeping them in the center and rearing them will help them rehabilitate them in their habitats. The center being built to house animals in a modern style is the first in the Far West region. Meanwhile, NTNC had previously built and put into operation a cage in Dadeldhura to rescue and house animals including leopards.
After the increase in the number of animals including tigers and leopards in the park, they have started appearing in the fields of residents of the buffer zone. Last week, the park office rescued two tigers from Belauri Municipality and Dodhara Chandani Municipality in the month of Shrawan and released them to a safe place.
Every month, leopards are seen in the settlements in the buffer zone of the park. The park and the trust team have been working to rescue and release them to a safe place. Due to the lack of a rescue center, the park was facing problems in keeping the rescued animals.
The construction of the center will make it easier to rescue and keep the animals. This work will also help in rehabilitating the rescued animals in their original habitat. It is said that the healthy wild animals rescued and kept in the center can be studied and researched for educational purposes.
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