A vehicle will be on standby in the District Forest Office Kathmandu to rescue sick or wounded wildlife from different parts of the Valley.

The National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) will on Friday hand over a wildlife rescue vehicle to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau at the DFO for providing prompt rescue action and other required facilities.

The trust’s assistance to the DFO, with the financial support from World Bank, is part of the project on “Problematic Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation in and around Kathmandu Valley” signed in 2014 to reduce the impact of human-wildlife conflict through preventive and mitigation measures.

“Management of wildlife, particularly leopards coming out in the human settlements has become a serious challenge for us. There has been increasing threats on both the parties—wildlife and people getting injured or killed,” said Siddhartha Bajracharya, programme director at the NTNC.

It was initially agreed to provide a wildlife rescue vehicle equipped with necessary rescue and veterinary equipment to deal with the emergency cases concerning wildlife, according to Bajracharya. However, the DFO instead demanded a vehicle with offroad capabilities to transport wildlife citing lack of technical experties in dealing with the ambulance.

“Unlike other vehicles, this vehicle will be used for rescuing wildlife only. We hope it will improve the response capacity at times of necessity,” he added.

There has been growing concern over the increasing incidents of leopards coming out in the cities and terrorising the public in the recent time. The government last week endorsed the second amendment to the Forest Act 1993 that provisions establishment of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres in appropriate locations to ensure proper care and facilities to wildlife in need of refuge. “The rescue vehicle would not have come at a better time. We have witnessed a rise in incidents of leopards straying into the city in the recent time,” said Indra Sapkota, district forest officer at the DFO. The donated vehicle is first of its kind with DFO Kathmandu designated for the rescue of wildlife.