![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Meeting.jpg\")
Harsana organised workshops with the forest and wildlife department to raise awareness about biodiversity in Mangar Bani and the importance of wildlife conservation | Special arrangement\n<\/p>\nSunil Harsana, an environmental activist, said that at first, his work in Mangar was about protecting the forest and the wildlife. But as complaints mount from the local community, he is doing all he can to help them too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMangar might be one of the lungs of Delhi, but the local community also needs to benefit from the forest. People often ask me, if there are too many wild animals around here, whose side will you pick? I don\u2019t know; we still need to figure these problems out,\u201d Harsana told ThePrint.<\/p>\n
It is a classic conundrum. When the forest is conserved better, the villagers are on the frontline of wild leopard attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On paper, the government offers them a mechanism to claim compensation, but most livestock deaths in Mangar and the surrounding villages don\u2019t even make it to the wildlife warden\u2019s records. The Gurugram wildlife division recorded only one such livestock death from Mangar in 2020. In the past two to three years, the number has risen, but even then they still have a total of about 10 cases since 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When they try to seek compensation, herders are left chasing vets and wildlife officials in the hope that some money might eventually reach them.\u00a0Often in vain.<\/p>\n
\nHarsana organised workshops with the forest and wildlife department to raise awareness about biodiversity in Mangar Bani and the importance of wildlife conservation | Special arrangement\n<\/p>\n
The night Chauri died<\/p>\n
On the night of 2 March 2026, 25-year-old Sundar witnessed this absurd sequence of events firsthand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Sundar, his father, and his two dogs slept peacefully in their house at the edge of Mangar Bani, a leopard crept into the enclosure where the family kept their dozen goats. That night, the leopard chose three-year-old Chauri for its meal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n![\"Chauri](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Goat_1.jpg\")
Chauri was killed by a leopard in March 2026 | Special arrangement\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next morning, my dog Kaalu followed the scent and found Chauri about 200 metres from the house. We could see the teeth marks around her neck and we knew that the leopard had killed her,\u201d Sundar told ThePrint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Standing at the murder scene, a disheartened Sundar needed no proof that a leopard had killed his goat Chauri. But convincing the wildlife department and getting compensated was a whole other matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, he wrote a complaint to the wildlife department. Then an inspection was done by a wildlife official. A diary entry followed, and then a government vet showed up at the scene with his gloves and tools to conduct an autopsy, photograph the scene, and establish the cause of death. The report had to then return to the wildlife department, followed by Aadhaar and PAN details, bank documents, and the signature of a village sarpanch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Goat_Letter.jpg\")
The wildlife department submitted an application to the vet to conduct the goat\u2019s post-mortem | special arrangement\n<\/p>\n
It has now been over six months since Chauri\u2019s death, but Sundar is yet to receive compensation. However, he is one of the lucky ones who have made it to the final step of the compensation process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have conducted studies in Mangar, especially among the communities that are still dependent on livestock farming, and we found that cows and goats are the most vulnerable to leopard attacks,\u201d said Harsana, who grew up in Mangar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harsana is the first person people call when their cows or goats get murdered by a wild animal. He guides them through the compensation process, because without his help, many don\u2019t even try following up on the government\u2019s cumbersome procedure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At first glance, the problem might look like just a few dead goats and cows, but across Mangar and the villages near the Aravallis, livestock losses have grown more common in the past five to six years. Many of the families still depend on livestock for their livelihood, and the death of a cow or a goat is no small loss.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The return of a forest\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mangar Bani used to be home to a pastoral community which depended on the forests for their livelihood. Many of the locals were Gujjars who had settled there to avoid conflict with agricultural communities. They would leave their cattle and goats in the forests during the day, bring them back in the evenings, and they were used to the wild animals that would often take their due. But with time, Mangar changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, the army used the forest as a training range. They would fire from the Tuglakabad base and the bombs would land among the trees. Then came the mining. The road that leads up to the village, now surrounded by lush green on both sides, was once flanked by the temporary settlements of hundreds of workers employed in the mines. In 2002, when the mining finally stopped, some of the communities slowly returned to livestock farming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sundar\u2019s family was one of them. Around the early 2010s, Sundar and his father had nearly 100 goats. Today, they have barely a dozen. Over the years they began keeping fewer goats but in the recent past, quite a few of them have been\u00a0eaten up by wild animals. If the deaths occur deeper inside forests, then they have no legal right to compensation either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Much of his livestock-related income comes from selling baby goats when they are about three to six months old. But even that fetches hardly about Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 for a five- to six-month-old goat. Keeping the livestock safe has now also become a hassle. Ever since the death of Chauri, Sundar now guides his goats up a staircase and keeps them on his terrace in the evenings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese leopards have been brought back by the government. We don\u2019t know who, but still. Keeping animals makes no sense anymore,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harsana said he knows the villagers need someone to blame, but as he opens up a map on his laptop, he points to the interconnectedness of the forests in India. Right from Rajasthan\u2019s Sariska, Sawai Madhopur, to Tughlaquabad, the Harchandpur hill, Manesar, there are pockets of forests separated by merely a few kilometers of human settlements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween 2008 and 2013, the tiger population rose in Sariska. As leopards moved the forest\u2019s fringe, they ventured out and found their way back to Mangar,\u201d explained Harsana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The leopards have not been \u201cbrought there\u201d; they have simply travelled the green corridors and returned to a forest where they once lived. But even as livestock deaths rose over the years, most villagers didn\u2019t bother following up for compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes the wildlife office takes a while to respond to complaints. Sometimes the vet is busy. Sometimes the wildlife officer asks for a letter from the gram panchayat who refuses to provide it because there is no proof of land ownership,\u201d Harsana said that the process can choke up at many points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even when compensation is received, it is hardly significant. The price of a goat today is anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000. But the compensation for an adult goat\u2019s death is Rs 3,500. Harsana said that the village is situated so far from the wildlife warden\u2019s office that even if the applicant has to make a couple of trips to complete the documentation, he ends up spending much of the compensation on the commute itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having a good relationship with the local vet helps in the process. If he comes in time and does the autopsy, the villager is more likely to receive compensation. After all, they can\u2019t keep a rotting carcass in their house as evidence for the vet.<\/p>\n
Bureaucratic delays<\/p>\n
When the Wildlife Division in Gurugram heard that the number of livestock deaths in Mangar has risen in the past year, most officers were surprised. Their folders don\u2019t match the numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Divisional Forest Officer Ramkumar Jangra said that Sundar\u2019s case is at the last stage. The orders have been filed, and only the money is left to be paid out. But the department is lacking the funds. In fact, there isn\u2019t even a separate budget for compensation \u2014 the amount is paid out from the department\u2019s \u201cmiscellaneous\u201d expenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we don\u2019t want anyone to suffer because of wild animals. That is why we give such schemes related to compensation, or even vaccinations. We even do awareness drives. But the compensation process is slow because we have to send an officer to verify the death,\u201d Jangra told ThePrint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The department has also sent several proposals to revise the compensation amount, but approvals are still pending. The last time the compensation amount was updated was in 2014. The wildlife division proposes to raise the compensation for a cow\u2019s death from Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000, for a calf\u2019s death from Rs 6000 to Rs 10,000 and for a goat\u2019s death from Rs 3,500 to Rs 7,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe conducted surveys to understand the current market rates for livestock and in most cases we are nearly doubling the earlier compensation. We have done everything from our side, the approval can come anyday,\u201d Jangra said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The department even offers schemes where villagers can buy life insurance for their livestock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sundar admitted that he has indeed insured some of his goats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the leopard always seems to know which ones are insured. He never takes any of them,\u201d Sundar laughed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harsana said he is going to conduct more surveys in Mangar to better understand and document the man-animal conflict; several cases remain in limbo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sundar\u2019s compensation too is stuck between the goodwill of officials and bureaucratic delays. His goat might be dead, but the paperwork Chauri left behind is still alive.<\/p>\n