IWMB thwarts human-wildlife conflict at farmhouse

Islamabad : The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) has intervened timely to thwart a potential human-wildlife conflict at a local farmhouse in the Margalla Hills.

According to the details, a female owner of a local farmhouse informed the IWMB officials that a group of eight to ten red foxes have intruded into her farmhouse with their pups.

The owner complained that the presence of foxes and their pups was not only posing danger to birds, hens, and other animals in the farmhouse but also heading towards a possible human-wildlife conflict.

The officials of the IWMB immediately arrived at the scene and installed cameras at various locations of the farmhouse.

The foxes were located with the help of camera trap images and safely removed from the farmhouse. Now all of them will be relocated in the Margalla Hills where they will return back to their natural habitats.

The officials pinned high hopes after this incident because it has proved that wildlife species are growing in the Margalla Hills National Park.

There was a time when most of the known wildlife species left Margalla Hills due to increasing human interventions in their natural habitats.

When the government imposed lockdowns due to coronavirus pandemic the wildlife animals started returning back to the Margalla Hills and the trend is still going on, much to the satisfaction of the wildlife experts.

An official told this correspondent that IWMB has been making contacts with the local people and devising a strategy to avoid conflicts between wildlife animals and the inmates of the villages.

“We have got some useful suggestions from the local people and the wildlife experts and are making plans to ensure peaceful co-existence of humans and wildlife in the Margalla Hills,” he said.