The scorching heat condition has forced wild animals to leave their habitats in the forests and search for cooler environs.

Incidents of stray wild animals coming near human habitation in search of water and food have increased over the past few weeks.

Mercury has been hovering around over 40 degrees Celsius in most parts of the state, even in the forest areas, where several waterholes dry up every summer as the mercury rises. If not strayed into human habitation, the animals are being observed to have shifted to place near big waterbodies to brace the scorching heat.

"A few weeks ago, a leopard had strayed into a village in Mokama and got thrashed to death by local residents. We did not find a single drop of water or food inside its stomach during post-mortem. Two similar cases of stray leopard entering villages in search of water and food has occurred at Munger and Araria as well in the past few weeks," said S.S. Chaudhary, additional principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), forests and environment department.

Officials at Valmiki Tiger Reserve claimed that though no case of migration of tigers into human habitation has been reported this summer but wild animals like leopard and even tigers are being mostly sighted near waterbodies, including artificial waterholes. "There is plenty of water here and the issue of migration of wild animals, including tigers, from VTR is mostly because of summer fire," said Sameer Sinha, manager of Wildlife Trust of India working at VTR.

Forest officials in Nalanda claimed that animals like Nilgai and monkeys are at times being spotted in villages under high temperature conditions. "There must have been a few cases of straying of wild animals in high temperature conditions but we do not have records of any specific case till date. Migration is a natural process and many animals migrate within the forest or even to nearby village but we have dug several waterholes in the forest area to avoid it," said Shiv Shankar Kumar, conservator of forests, Gaya.

Wildlife experts claimed that if scorching heat condition persists for a couple of more days, then it might lead to forest fires and scarcity of fodder. "Though animals are more adaptable to adverse weather than human beings but such extreme temperature conditions would make them vulnerable too. Efforts should be taken to maintain favourable habitat in the forest under all-weather conditions," said a city- based wildlife expert.

Forest officials have claimed that steps are being taken to ensure sufficient water availability in the forest areas to tackle high temperature scenarios.