Rudraprayag, Aug. 25 -- Human-wildlife conflict is increasing in rural areas of Rudraprayag as forest areas have come closer to villages and wild animals are moving towards human settlements in search of food, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vineet Kumar Mishra said.

The DFO said that the decline in farming activities has contributed to wild animals such as wild boars, leopards and bears moving closer to villages in search of easily available food.

"Human-wildlife conflict has been arising. As we can see in our mountains, forest areas have come very close to the villages. Since people have stopped farming, wild animals such as boars, leopards, and bears have also moved closer to our villages in search of easy food," the DFO Mishra said....