India, Nov. 1 -- The state's answer to the man-animal conflict, fuelled by expanding urbanisation into forest land, is to station rapid response teams armed with tranquiliser guns and traps to prevent animals from straying into human settlements and drive them back into the forest.

The plan, to be rolled out across the state by the forest department, was cleared by the State Board for Wildlife earlier this week.

In recent times, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Junnar taluka in Pune district, and parts of Chandrapur district, which is home to tiger reserves, have been topping the list of man-animal conflict areas. Leopards from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) regularly enter human settlements in Mumbai, Thane and Mira Bhayan...