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Ram Niwas, a farmer in his late 30s from Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh, dresses up as a bear to protect his crops. He found this to be the most effective way to keep stray cattle and monkeys out of his field, a burning problem in the state because of which farmers are resorting to the most ad hoc solutions. The danger of stray animals has severely affected their income.
“In Lakhimpur Kheri, most of the farmers are engaged in the cultivation of sugarcane, groundnuts and green vegetables which greatly attract stray cattle and other animals; It’s a huge nuisance here. “There are many cases where large areas of crops have been spoiled by stray animals, which has severely impacted our income,” said Ram Niwas, who is from Dakoura village.
I got the idea from playing in the streets
It was then that Ram Niwas decided to choose a unique way to scare the animals. I’ve tried scarecrows, dueling, and air cannons but nothing worked. So, a few weeks ago I saw a street play in a nearby town where I saw someone dressed as a bear and decided to try this method at least once.”
Ram Niwas bought a bear costume for 700 rupees and tried it on. He said, “I put it on and went to the field, and to my surprise, it worked and I was able to scare away the stray animals by making some movements and growling sounds.”
It had been more than two weeks since Ram Niwas had used this method, and noticing his success, some others in the village approached him and offered him 150 to 250 rupees a day to hire him to guard their fields.
“Some farmers offered me a decent sum of money to guard their fields. I accepted the offer and now I guard their fields as well as mine during the day.”
Other than the Dhakora village of Lakhimpur Kheri, farmers from neighboring areas have caught up with the idea and are opting for a similar method to protect their fields and maintain the integrity of their crops. Hermakhira, Rahajaniya, Faria, Pibaria, Chapartala and Paikwa are some of the other villages, where a large number of farmers have adopted the practice.
When Kismat was hired to scare away monkeys
A bear costume isn’t the only way to scare away stray animals. Once upon a time, the Northern Railway (NR) hired a man to scare away monkeys by making a langur sound.
Kismat was hired by the railways to combat the monkey menace at Charbagh railway station in Lucknow in 2019. Even the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) and other government departments hired him to scare away the monkeys.
Kismat adopted the profession in 2013, when he was forced to give up his pet langur after the Environment Ministry reintroduced a ban on keeping hooded langurs because they are a protected species.
“I used to scare away monkeys with the help of my langur. After the ban, we had no other means of income, hence I started mimicking the sound of the langur to scare away the monkeys.”
63 crore has been earmarked to tackle the stray cattle menace
Not only in rural pockets of the state, stray cattle have become a menace even in urban areas. The state government has taken measures to combat this menace but this is not showing results yet.
In February, the government allocated 52 hectares of land in Burghazi in Muzaffarnagar district while the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Department approved Rs 63 crore for the establishment of a cow sanctuary. The project will be managed by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), on which construction is scheduled to begin next month and is expected to be completed within four months. This project, once operational, will be replicated across all provinces.
increasing numbers
The number of stray cows in Uttar Pradesh increased from 10,09,436 in 2012 to 11,84,494 in 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Products.
District level analysis shows that Chitrakoot has the highest number of stray cows at 68,813, followed by Mahbouba at 61,765, Gonda at 52,615, Hardoi at 48,173 and Panda at 47,658. The information is available for all 75 counties in the state and the numbers are made based on a livestock census conducted by the government.
National livestock numbers are collected every five years. The last livestock census was conducted in 2019 and the next in 2024.
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