Wildlife Attack & Crop-Damage Relief in Nepal: Compensation Guide (2080)

Nepal runs a government relief (rahat) scheme that pays cash to people harmed by wild animals or whose livestock, crops, stored grain or property are destroyed by them. In Nepali this is widely searched as 'banyajantu bata bhaeko kshati ko rahat'. It is not an insurance product and it is not a court award; it is a discretionary, capped relief payment intended to reduce the economic burden on affected families and to discourage retaliatory killing of protected wildlife such as tigers, leopards and rhinos.

The current rules are the Wildlife Damage Relief Distribution Guidelines 2080 (Vanyajantubata Bhaeko Kshati ko Rahat Vitaran Nirdeshika, 2080 BS), issued by the Ministry of Forests and Environment and administered by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). They came into effect on 1 Shrawan 2080 BS (17 July 2023) and replaced the earlier directives of 2009 and 2013. This 2023 revision is the third major amendment and significantly expanded both the animals covered and the payout amounts.

The scheme is funded from the government budget and, in and around protected areas, partly from buffer-zone revenue. Relief is a legal provision under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973 and its Regulations, but the amounts and process are set entirely by the Guidelines, which the government revises periodically. Because it is a relief and not a right to full damages, payments are capped and one loss can generally be claimed only once.

The 2080 Guidelines cover damage caused by 16 wild animals, up from 14 previously. The two additions in 2023 were the blue bull (nilgai) and the monkey, both of which are major crop raiders, along with new provisions for poultry and fishpond losses. Damage caused by any animal not on this list does not qualify for relief under this scheme.

It is important to note that not every species triggers every type of relief. Human death, serious injury, minor injury and permanent-disability relief apply to attacks by all 16 species. But crop-loss relief is limited to a subset of raiders (elephant, rhino, bear, wild boar, wild buffalo, blue bull and monkey), livestock-loss relief applies mainly to the predators, and fishpond loss is tied specifically to the mugger crocodile. Read the relief type together with the animal that caused it.

For harm to people, the 2080 Guidelines set the following maximum relief: NPR 20,000 for a minor injury; up to NPR 200,000 (2 lakh) for a serious injury; NPR 500,000 (5 lakh) for permanent disability; and up to NPR 1,000,000 (10 lakh) — often searched as 'hatti rahat rakam' when the animal is an elephant — paid to the victim's family in the case of death. These human bands apply to all 16 species. For serious injuries, the government provides emergency treatment costs at the nearest hospital and further treatment at government hospitals on a doctor's recommendation.

For property, the maximum relief is generally NPR 10,000 for damage to a house or cattle shed. For crops, the cap is NPR 10,000 per crop cycle, claimable one time per crop and a maximum of two times on any one plot within a single fiscal year — this is the band that covers elephant, rhino, bear, wild boar, wild buffalo, blue bull and monkey raids. Stored-grain loss relief (up to NPR 10,000) is provided specifically for elephant damage.

For animals killed by wildlife, relief is up to NPR 60,000 for an adult buffalo, ox or improved (high-value) cattle and up to NPR 10,000 for ordinary cattle, applicable to attacks by tiger, bear, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard, wolf, wild dog, mugger crocodile and python. New in 2023, fishpond loss caused by the mugger crocodile and poultry loss caused by leopards, wolves, wild dogs, pythons and the like each carry relief of up to NPR 10,000, once per fiscal year. All amounts are maximums; the office assesses the actual loss and may pay less.

Relief is meant for genuine victims of the listed wildlife. Human-attack relief covers a person who was attacked while not illegally inside a protected area. Livestock, crop, grain, poultry, fishpond and property relief generally applies to losses on the victim's own private land outside the core protected area. If the damage occurred because a person entered a national park or reserve unlawfully, or if the loss was on encroached forest land, the claim can be rejected.

A key rule is no double claiming. If the crop or animal was insured (for example under a government crop or livestock insurance scheme), the claimant must disclose the insurance payout, and relief is limited to the remaining gap. Claiming both the full insurance and the full relief for the same loss is treated as illegal. Similarly, each qualifying loss is generally payable once, and crop relief is capped at two claims per plot per fiscal year.

The claimant is normally the affected person; in a death case it is the legal heir or nearest family member, who must prove their relationship to the deceased. Because the process requires official verification, it helps if the incident was reported promptly to the ward office, police (for injury or death) and the nearest forest or park office.

Different cases require different documents, so not every paper below is needed for every claim. The core requirement is a written application to the relevant office together with proof of the incident and the loss. Photographs of the injured person, the deceased, the killed livestock or the damaged crop, house or fishpond are almost always required as evidence.

For human injury and death claims, additional documents are essential, including a police report and, in death cases, a post-mortem report and a relationship (heir) certificate proving the applicant's link to the victim. Medical records — the recommendation and bills from the treating health post or hospital — support injury and disability claims, and a disability or death certificate is needed where relevant.

For livestock, crop and property claims, the office typically wants an incident-scene report (ghatana-sthal sarjamin muchulka) with witness statements, and a supporting recommendation from the local veterinary or agriculture office and from the ward (local level), buffer-zone user committee or community forest user group. Keeping these papers ready speeds up verification.

The claim is filed with the office that has jurisdiction over where the incident happened. If the damage occurred in or around a national park, wildlife reserve, conservation area or its buffer zone, apply to that protected-area office. In all other areas, apply to the Division Forest Office (DFO) nearest your home. Since 2023, victims can approach the provincial-level forest office structure closer to home rather than travelling to a distant park headquarters.

You must submit the application within 35 days of the incident. The office then verifies the claim: it checks the documents, and a relief recommendation committee inspects or confirms the loss (photos, scene report, medical or veterinary records). Based on the committee's recommendation, the office approves the relief. Approved relief must be disbursed within 30 days by bank transfer directly into the victim's account — cash payments are prohibited to keep the process traceable and transparent.

In practice, delays are common. The 2024 revision moved payment through provincial forest offices, and in some cases those offices did not immediately hold budget, creating bottlenecks. If a claim stalls, follow up with the office in writing, keep copies of everything, and seek help from the ward office, buffer-zone user committee or a local journalist, as unresolved relief cases are frequently reported in Nepali media.

The relief system began as a buffer-zone initiative around Chitwan National Park in the late 1990s, using a share of park revenue to compassionately support families hit by wildlife. The government formalised it nationally through the 2009 directive, strengthened amounts in 2013 and 2018, and consolidated everything in the 2080 (2023) Guidelines. Over the five years before the revision, the government reported distributing roughly NPR 600–645 million in wildlife relief while more than 200 people were killed in conflict incidents.

The scheme has well-documented limitations. Relief amounts are capped and often fall short of the real value of a lost buffalo, a season's crop, or a family's breadwinner, so relief is partial support, not full compensation. Studies and reporting also point to slow processing, heavy documentation demands, uneven budgets across provinces, and complaints of procedural hassle. The government and conservation partners are exploring alternatives such as endowment funds and crop and livestock insurance to make support faster and more sustainable.

Because the Guidelines are revised periodically, treat the figures here as the 2080/2023 rates and confirm current amounts and procedures with your local Division Forest Office, protected-area office or the DNPWC before filing. Where a claim is complex — for example a disputed death or a large livestock loss — it is worth getting written guidance from the office at the outset.