Chitwan National Park

"In Nepal's Chitwan National Park, leopards and tigers coexist by hunting at different times and for different prey, as well as by utilizing different vegetation complexes (Seidensticker 1976)."

"Wildlife attacks on people in and around protected areas have become one of the main challenges for wildlife management authorities. We assessed all correlates of wildlife attacks during 2003–2013 in the vicinity of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. We used data from various sources (discussion with stakeholders, field observations, questionnaire surveys). Wildlife attacks were significantly correlated to factors such as site, season and time, activity, gender and awareness. Moreover, 89% of recorded attacks occurred outside the Park. The number of attacks fluctuated widely and patterns of attacks were significantly uneven across seasons and months. Of the 87% of attacks that occurred during the day, 63% occurred in the morning. Most victims were male and c. 45% of attacks occurred when people were collecting forest resources or working on croplands. Attacks were carried out predominantly by rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis (38%), tigers Panthera tigris (21%), s Melursus ursinus (18%), elephants Elephas maximus (9%) and wild boar Sus scrofa (8%). The people attacked lived close to the Park, depended on farming for their livelihoods, and had little knowledge of animal behaviour. Attacks can be mitigated through proper management of habitats inside the Park and raising awareness of wildlife behaviour among local people. We recommend establishing a participatory emergency rescue team to deal with problematic animals in high-risk areas."

"The western of Nepal lies at 120–815 m elevation in the subtropical region of Nepal, characterized by elongated valleys created by faults within the foothills of the actively uplifting Himalaya plateau (Lehmkuhl 1994). Much of the area was deforested and settled in the 1950s and 1960s, and today the 250-km2 western Chitwan Valley is home to over 200,000 individuals (Central Bureau of Statistics – Nepal 2016). While the northern region is intensively cultivated, the southern and western regions are dominated by CNP, a 932-km2 established in 1973 and internationally recognized for its largely intact primary forests, grasslands and habitats for endangered and vulnerable, charismatic mammal species. CNP is home to the vulnerable (Rhinoceros unicorns) and endangered (Panthera tigris tigris) (Spiteri & Nepal 2008). The Forest Act 1993 created the existing community forest (CF) system – a type of decentralized, locally governed forest management – to prevent habitat degradation and to sustain the quality of life for growing numbers of buffer zone (the area surrounding CNP) residents (Nagendra 2002). This arrangement allows for residents to legally collect resources from CF areas while CNP is rendered off-limits (Jones 2007)."