In a spot of bother?

Earlier, human-leopard conflict was uncommon in Karnataka. But that seems to have changed. Even as recent as last month, a two-year-old female leopard strayed into a village in Mysore district and attacked five people. Madhumitha B talks to experts on the issue.

Free roaming tigers and elephants on the streets of Bangalore is not a reality that anyone will believe ever existed. A big cat amidst such a dense population of humankind? It’s unimaginable. But history narrates a different story. A peek into the City’s colonial records that date back to the 1800s will show that once upon a time, Bangalore was host to some of the species of wildlife that are today accorded the highest protection under wildlife laws.

Hunting and probably rapid urbanisation too, resulted in the species gradually moving further and further away. Since then, it may not have been a conducive environment for some of the larger mammals, but the fact remains that across the country, there are several areas where both man and animal live and walk on the same paths. It is certainly not an ideal situation always, but the demography and density of population in India vis-a-vis to the space ratio insists that this form of existence prevail.

Although this principle of shared space is still practised in rural India, the tolerance to it seems to have diminished extensively. And not only that. The reaction to a species of wildlife coming into dangerously close contact with humans, has gone down a chaotic path that is in dire need of correction. Damage control in times of human-wildlife conflict itself needs serious damage control, say experts who fear that some conflict mitigation measures may actually be working adversely, for both man and animal.

One such example is the relationship between humans and leopards that has possibly become a strained one over the past few years. Leopards are among the big cats that live much closer to humans than, say, tigers or lions. It is not a new phenomenon, instead one that has always existed and sometimes people living near protected areas (PA) realise it. At other times, this big cat can survive and share non forest land with people without ever making its appearance. Such is the adaptability this species possesses. As long as this cycle is not disturbed by damage to either of the species, it can be an advantage for conservation and coexistence. Conflict with leopards was not something that was heard of that often in Karnataka. There may have been encounters with people but nothing that caused an alarm. Until recently, say wildlife biologists.

Translocation

Unfortunately, over the past decade, the general response to leopards lifting livestock or encountering humans has led to the measure of translocation of these big cats. Sometimes to an entirely new forest area or to the protected areas or forests of that region. Or what is termed as worse — captivity.

This, in the hope that they remain there and do not return to where they were found. While this is not the best option considering wildlife almost always find their way back on a natural instinct to return to their territory, it is due to lack of options that at times, translocation is decided upon, so as to protect the interests of the lives of people in an area.

This, feel experts, is just bad management based on opinions and not factual, scientific understanding. The lack of options, on the other hand, need not be the case, felt Vidya Athreya, Wildlife biologist with Wildlife Conservation Society-India.

According to her, a bad decision made repeatedly has spiralled the situation with leopards, out of control, causing some degree of panic concerning these big cats, even when there is no threat at all.

“Moving these big cats, even when there is no imminent danger and based on just apprehension, has not been good for this species. It’s also a dangerous trend for people living in areas where leopards exist, because removing one individual does not necessarily mean that there aren’t going to be any leopards there again. It will either be occupied by another individual or possibly the same leopard that will find its way back.”

“Additionally, we have understood that the new area where a leopard is translocated to, previously sans conflict, ends up experiencing conflict as it is unfamiliar territory for the animal and often ends up encountering people more frequently in order to survive,” added Vidya who, during her course of research, has extensively covered this issue.

She reiterates this point in her recent report co-authored with noted wildlife biologists including K Ullas Karanth, that states, “The main management response, in the absence of robust information on large carnivore ecology in human dominated areas has been their translocation to nearby protected areas based on a belief that these leopards are ‘‘stray’’ individuals that have dispersed from protected forest areas and need to be ‘‘helped’’ back to the forests. Recently, this has been documented to worsen the situation, leading to increased attacks on people near the sites’ of release.”

“Clearly there is a need to document the status of leopards living in these human-dominated landscapes, as well as to understand the community structure of wild carnivores in highly modified ecosystems that are also home to high density of humans.”

In her most recent scientific paper from her study based in Western Maharashtra, ‘Big cats in our backyards: Persistence of large carnivores in a human dominated landscape in India’, Vidya has highlighted the need to deliberate on this issue at length and at various levels to properly understand how serious the repercussions of unscientific translocation can be for both man and leopard and to instead acknowledge and highlight the fact that leopards are here to stay and even live outside of protected areas and that there can be other ways to minimise damage and loss of lives.
“Even in Karnataka, over the past three to four years, there is so much one hears of trappings (capturing wild leopards for translocation). When I visited the State a few years ago, the incidents of any conflict with leopards, was unheard of. What has changed? We need to understand this issue better so that it can be handled in a way that is not going down the path of destruction. If we mess this up, people are going to suffer with livestock loss and possibly attacks,” stated Vidya.

Landscape-based conservation

In her study, Vidya has directed the attention towards the need for landscape based conservation approach and not just a PA centric one. What she means is that policies must take into consideration the fact that all wildlife need to use non protected areas as well in order to move and travel and hence measures must span all carnivore paths that sometimes intercept with human population. Ninety five per cent of the land in India is non protected areas which leaves about five per cent for forests which are important remnants of our natural heritage. To protect it, laws and carefully thought out ones at that, need to come from the formal administration and it needs to discuss expanding its zone from just protected areas. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has taken a decision to radio collar all big cats that are released back into the forests after capture for any reason. This is essentially to study the movements of these big cats after release and to ensure that the method of translocation does not defeat the purpose by exasperating the situation. While this might be able to provide information and possibly avert a conflict for now, there still is a need for a robust mechanism to curb the very need for translocation, when unnecessary.

Leopards have it tough. They have the other and larger big cats to keep an eye on, in order to survive. To say that the statistics of poaching concerning the leopards, is a grim one, would be an understatement. And add to this, the stress of being constantly pitched as a threat to people and the resulting translocation, it does not fare well for the species. Unless it all can change.