Forest officials, cops form SOPs to mitigate human-animal crisis

Action taken in light of the frequent gaur spotting in the city’s urban clusters

Taking a lesson from the crowd management fiasco that cost an Indian bison its life even though it was rescued after it had strayed into a residential colony, the state forest department and the police force have decided to work together to tackle the human-wildlife conflict. Both authorities have decided to set up standard operating procedures (SOPs) to respond aptly in case an untamed animal is spotted in urban areas.

The need for coordination between the forest department and the police officials was felt during the rescue operation of the rare gaur that was stranded in Kothrud’s Mahatma Society on December 9. As soon as the news of the stranded gaur spread in the city, people gathered in hordes to get a glimpse of the animal, resulting in crowding and chaos. In a desperate attempt to find its way back to the forest, the scared gaur sustained several injuries and suffered a cardiovascular arrest despite being tranquilised by forest officials. Later, post-mortem reports confirmed cardiovascular failure in the Indian bison. According to forest officials, the huge mob caused panic in the large-horned creature.

While the incident of the tragic death of the animal was still fresh in people’s memories, another stranded gaur was spotted near Pashan. This time, forest officials managed to rehabilitate it back to the forest safely.


After the sighting of wild bisons in highly urbanised areas of the city, the forest department has written a letter to the state director general of police (DGP) Subodh Kumar Jaiswal to work on the joint response by the forest and police department in mitigating human-wildlife conflict in urbanised areas. When contacted, Sunil Limaye, additional principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), confirmed that the letter has been sent to the DGP’s office.

“When there is an wildlife emergency in urban pockets, we have to create a safe passage for the animal to return to the forest, for which SOPs for the forest department is already laid out. However, in concrete jungles, we need police assistance to manage the crowd and ensure safe passage for the animal.”

Limaye also held a meeting with the Pune police commissioner Amitabh Gupta on Wednesday in light of the two incidents of Indian bison sighting. “Whenever there is a wildlife emergency, common people usually contact the police control room, making cops the first contact point. By the time police pass on the information to the forest officials and seniors of both departments work on a strategy, a lot of time gets wasted in responding to the crisis. Therefore, we have requested the police department to arrive at the location before forest officials reach the spot to begin crowd management or invoke Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) section 144 in the area,” Limaye said.

Police officials have also agreed to work on a strategy to respond to such awildlife crisis.

Commenting on the matter, commissioner Gupta added, “We have promised to extend all possible help to the forest officials in such rescue operations and will hold another meeting to decide on future course of action.”