On 14 December, the residents of villages around Ramnagar, Uttarakhand staged a protest at the Dhela Jhirna zone of the Corbett National Park. The demonstration was sparked by the killing of two women by a tiger in the area. The protests were supported by various local organisations, who helped protestors stop the movement of tourists. Their demands ranged from protection of humans, crops and cattle from wild animals to adequate compensation for those injured and for the families who had lost members. The protestors also announced that if their issues were not resolved at the earliest, they would hold another demonstration at the forest complex in Ramnagar, on 21 December.
Conflict between tigers and humans has been on the increase in the state. The state forest minister Subodh Uniyal said that in the last two months, 16 people have died due to tiger and leopard attacks, while 45 people were injured. Forest department figures show that tigers killed 59 people and injured 128 people in the state between 2000 to 2022. The maximum number of deaths attributed to tigers—11—occurred in 2022. In 2018, there were 646 tigers in the Shivalik hills and Ganga plains. By 2022, the tiger population had increased to 804. Apart from attacks by big cats, another 1,054 people lost their lives and 5,094 people were injured due to attacks by elephants, snakes and other wild animals during the same period.
Video report by Parijat.