Opening of a road track right through the forest has risked the lives of wild animals as the vehicles can crush them to death anytime.

DHARAN, Feb 12: There is a road which runs right through the Panwari Community Forest of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City-6, in between Mahadev Chowk and Panwari.

To the south of the road lies a fence with wires erected by the forest conservation group to curb rampant smuggling of timber as well as other forest resources. This forest lies in between the newly constructed Seuti and Sehara bridges.

Though this fence has helped to control smuggling to some extent, it is turning into death traps for the wild animals of late. On Tuesday, an adult spotted deer lost its life after being stuck in the fence. The deer, which came running from the jungle, was unable to jump above the fence and got killed.

After seeing the young spotted deer running toward Dharan Bazar with its broken neck, some passengers reported to the police and local representatives.

"I was going to Dharan Bazar when I saw the deer rushing toward the road when it got bumped into the wooden pillar of the fence," said Dipak Limbu of Panwari. After being taken to the forest office, the spotted deer succumbed to its injuries.

According to Bhuwan Singh Basnet, chairperson of Dharan-6, the forest authorities decided to set up the fence due to the increase in incidents of smuggling of young saplings and herbs from the forest. He himself admitted that this has caused the deaths of many wild animals.

"Around five to six wild animals have sustained serious injuries while some have even lost their lives," said Chairperson Basnet.

Opening of a road track right through the forest has risked the lives of wild animals as the vehicles can crush them to death anytime. As the sound of horn scares them, the animals run toward safer area in a hurry. This sometimes leads to their death.

"We were preparing to treat the deer by calling a veterinary doctor but it died," said Gyan Kumar Lama, assistant forest officer.

He informed Republica that they were planning to hold discussions to seek a solution to this problem.

"It is important to protect the saplings but if the fences are posing threat for the wild animals, maybe we should remove them," said Lama.

Assistant Forest Officer Lama stressed on the need of creating a separate way for the animals so that they will stop using the road.

He says not just the Panwari-Mahadev Chowk road section but even the under construction Jogbani-Kimanthaka road section along the Koshi Highway poses threat to the wildlife.

"Deer often get hit by the vehicles in these roads. This risk will increase with the completion of the six-lane Jogbani-Kimanthaka road," said Lama.

Caption: A spotted deer which lost its life after getting stuck in a fence set up in the forest area is pictured in this photo taken on Tuesday.

 
• wild_animals
 
• safety
 
• roads