JOIN USFinding solace in human territories
A study says that leopards enter human settlements because of the favourable conditions, disputing the view that they wish to live in forests, writes Manu Joseph
For decades, the educated view has been that the leopard wished to be in the forest, and that it entered human habitats because the forests were shrinking. So, wildlife officials captured the leopards that were thought to have strayed into human
territory and released them in the wild.
But a new study by a group of scientists and conservationists says that the leopard probably considers itself “a resident” of spaces that humans have
occupied. It is not straying. It finds human settlements conducive to a quality life, with their abundant dogs and cattle. Humans themselves, though delectable, perhaps, are dangerous. But then, the leopards usually survey the settlements when people are fast asleep.
The researchers tracked the movements of five leopards by fixing collars on them equipped with satellite-linked devices. The leopards were released in forests. Except for one, the leopards showed a tendency to forage in human settlements, and they often lurked just metres away from homes.
“It is not an aberration,” said Vidya Athreya, one of the researchers. “That’s the point we wish to make. It is natural.”
To be or not to be
The researchers cautioned that they need to track more leopards to achieve a deeper understanding of the majestic cats. But they were confident enough to write in a paper published in the scientific journal PLOS One that “the study reveals just how adaptable some wildlife species are at occupying human-dominated tropical landscapes. The good news for wildlife is that it opens up huge new areas as potential arenas for conservation.” The study also suggests that leopards, even as they exploit human settlements, generally avoid humans.
Of all the big cats, leopards are the best at adapting to fast-changing environments. Even so, they are ranked as “near threatened” in India.
Athreya said the findings of her research team should inspire India’s wildlife policy makers “to rethink.” In her ideal world, the leopards found in human settlements would not be trapped and dispatched to forests, but just allowed to be. She is reluctant to use the word “coexistence” to describe the possible relationship between humans and leopards. “Because that,” she said, “would mean everybody is happy.”
But she does not find it odd that humans should be asked to share space with the wild. “Indians have been doing it for centuries,” she said. “It is a part of Indian life.”
The transformation of India into something resembling the West has yet to claim one of its ancient ways: the notion that a human habitat is an ambiguous space. Across the nation, as Indians encroach into the forests, the forest, too, returns the visits.
A tough task
About 12 years ago, I visited a region in western India where leopards had killed 10 humans and hundreds of cattle over a one-year period. The villagers were angry. One man whose 5-year-old daughter was killed said: “I don’t understand why wild animals are protected. Should we go to the forest so that the leopards can live here?”
In that region, where there were vast sugarcane fields and plentiful water, providing cover and sustenance to leopards, any human disappearance was blamed on the leopard. As it happened, a nightlong search for the remains of a missing 16-year-girl was abandoned after it turned out that she had eloped.
There were frequent quarrels between forest officials and the villagers, who wanted to stone the captured leopards to death in vengeance instead of releasing them into the wild. Also, at the time, the fine for killing a leopard was greater than the government compensation for a child killed by the animal.
What was clear even then was that the leopards were beginning to thrive in the area. It did not occur to anyone that they fared so well because they were probably residents, and that the act of capturing them and releasing them in the wild was, in effect, exiling them.