Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Leopards, Tigers & Humans!

“Leopards, that is ordinary forest leopards, do not like rain and invariably seek shelter, but the man eater was not an ordinary leopard, and there was no knowing what his likes or dislikes were, or what he might or might not do.”
― Jim Corbett

“A tiger's function in the scheme of things is to help maintain balance in nature and if, on rare occasions when driven by dire necessity, he kills a human being or when his natural food has been ruthlessly exterminated by man, he kills two percent of the cattle he is alleged to have killed, it is not fair that for these acts a whole species should be branded as being cruel and bloodthirsty.”
― Jim Corbett

When subject of sharing is Leopards & Tigers, then you will find no other man but the above one, as hundred years back when there was no Google or Drone or any such technology at assistance he has studied (not killed, do mind) these species on foot & by being with them in the real world & that’s why still today his words hold best about the behaviour of the leopards & tigers! And it’s not just about the wild animals but Corbett has equally given justice to the humans which live around these animals. And yes, he has warned & shamed also the humans who have made to become these animals Man Eaters which they are not by their basic nature! Unfortunately, our country which was & is rich in knowledge about every aspect of life, especially the nature we rarely listen to the wise & today's head-lines which leopards & tigers are making are the outcome of our that ignorance about the knowledge, is my subject of sharing!

Yes, it’s about leopards & tigers (tadoba is there too but for reference only) but interestingly both stood on different sides of the coin with the human’s society, such a weird species we the humans are! As those who are reading newspapers, watching TV news (paid/ free) following insta reels, forwarding WhatsApp messages & posting on FB (and if you are not doing any of above thing then you are a saint) they all must be knowing Leopard’s menace (means terror) in right our Urban Pune district & more than that the statements & comments by our rulers, system (read as govt) & media as well self-proclaimed experts & from the villagers! Well, many will say I am also one of the self-proclaimed experts, then you can say that but whatever I am sharing is not my opinion but analysis & whatever I am going to suggest are suggestions which can be used by the respective dept or people only if they logically accept the same (disclaimer 1), as well I have been lucky to spent some time over the span of twenty five years in & around forests & I am in touch with the humans who live around the forests, so , I have a little exposure with this issue is I can say! This to, And I felt writing this because I love wildlife of which leopards are very much part of & so does the locals which lives with these leopards so both lives are important equally the only difference is leopard can’t think & act for humans better living but humans can do for the leopard both above things that’s why & second leopards can’t read (sarcasm)! At the same time, I have full respect & sympathy for the locals who are living in the terror of leopards & who has lost lives of their family members in the leopards’ attacks, but I am writing this to make others understand the situation in leopard issue (I won’t say problem) & if my sharing can be helpful to save further lives, of humans & of leopard too (disclaimer 2)!

First let’s understand the exact issue of leopards & here many will say, what’s there to understand, they are a menace (just the way stray dogs in the city) & we need to get rid of them. I wish, it should have been that simple as we can even kill the stray dogs (sorry, just to explain) & here we are talking about class 1 animal by wildlife act which means they are too be protected above all & not killed & anything related to the leopards needs top level (Supreme Court) clearance for any policy regarding them! Another aspect is, this leopard’s issue has not popped up overnight, it was there nearly from last three decades especially in Junnar area but as usual we (read as system or govt) didn’t do anything about it & now when population of leopards & humans have crashed (and clashed) we are running clueless! And unlike tiger leopards are not studied properly barring few cases such as Borivali National Park & unless we don’t study a species, we can’t handle it, may it be a virus or a leopard, one more failure of the system as whenever bothered to study leopards! That’s why many people are (read as rulers) making statements & claims such as sterilizing them, exchanging them with African countries, feeding them dogs & sheep, translocating them to other forests & of course, even killing them (shoot at sight)! And all these claims are indications of our immaturity as well as non-understanding of the leopards & the issue (read as foolishness)! Btw, a decade back there was a proposal to start leopard safari in these parts of the Pune district so leopards can be used as means of earning for the locals the way in other forests has been done. Again, a mistake as this is not forest & leopards are not tigers to show themselves to the tourists! This habitat is agriculture & urban (recently) & forest safaris made wildlife conservation a success in places like tadoba or Vidarbha at large because there was nothing else as means of earning for the locals but here the lands are under cultivation of cash crops such as sugarcane & locals have enough means of earning. Definitely they don’t want their lands to be used for leopard’s safaris & then leopards don’t show up on the roads in broad daylight the way tigers do. Besides leopards, what will you show to the tourists, farmlands & heaps of garbage, that’s why the safari option won’t work at large level to make locals go friendly with the leopards!

So, what to do with these leopards & the solution will be two-fold, short term, may be catching some leopards & even killing a few (sorry leopards but that’s just a suggestion) which are used to attack humans regularly. At the same time use as much manpower as we can get people from Vidarbha or parts of the State who know wildlife because you can expect the people in urban parts to deal with wild animals such as leopards. And make squads of such people for patrolling, especially from early evening to morning to keep the leopards away from human settlements. A leopard is very smart animal probably the best in survival (read Jim Corbett) & it will understand that its not easy to live in these habitats with more humans, that too trained, moving on the roads which will be a big obstruction for its movements in the dark for hunting & slowly it will retreat for sure & itself will find a new habitat. Though this won’t happen in a month or year yet this will make locals at ease & attacks on humans as well domestic cattle will reduce for sure because leopard again unlike tiger is afraid of humans at least grownups for sure! And this will give a breather to the system (read as govt & forest dept) to plan long term solutions as well right policies where tourism will be sure part of, as some day coexistence has to be there!

But if at present you go there & tell people about accepting leopards or use them as tourism or be cautious & change their lifestyle, it will backfire such is the mess we only have created & not the leopards. And in the long term there will be awareness, packages & things like creating reserved habitats around these villages, towns which can include even sugarcane fields & then we can plan safaris with introduction of the prey base which these leopards are now getting used to! As you can reserve sugarcane farms as habitats for the leopards but from where you will get food to them, nobody thought about this aspect while preparing the safari proposal here! As well think of green corridors by which these leopards themselves will migrate to better living conditions for them because as the conflicts will reduce & so will their food chain then first option any wild animal chooses is to find another home & at present, we have cut down their migration means that’s why they are attacking whatever comes in their way! That’s the reason why the attacks have been increased in the recent as till the time leopard’s population was at one level they were getting food in the form of stray dog, pigs & even rodents in the field but with the increase in population but limited prey base they are bound to get desperate for the food. At the same time difference between the tigers & leopards is, tiger is very individualistic animal, & in one territory only one tiger lives but leopards though do have territory, but seems doesn’t mind sharing the same (at least it seems they have adopted this attitude here) as survival is more important for them than pride! As well a male tiger kills cubs to a female in his territory from the other male tiger, this in a way keeps tiger population in check, which isn’t the case with leopards! So the real problem with growing population of leopards even if they learned to stay accommodating each other’s is, lesser food to share & outcome is, desperate attacks or increased level of boldness in behaviour! This is what we have failed to study & this study aspect also must be part of long-term solutions. Classic example we already have & that is Jhalana, a leopard sanctuary near Jaipur city in Rajasthan. Though again the habitat is totally different but we can start making one from now & divert the leopards towards the same as well something like Vantara exclusive for leopards! Though all these must be done fast & get in reality or else, again it will remain on paper, which is the main problem in wildlife conservation! Till then a slow awareness campaign must be on at all levels of society especially amongst the politicians’ who are more interested in their votes than solving the real problem!

Now coming to another classic wildlife example, where a tigress named Chanda has been translocated from tadoba buffers to Sahyadri tiger reserve near Kolhapur. Look at the interesting fact as if on one side people are angry about wild animal like leopard then on the other side tadoba locals opposed to shift Chanda & one more tigress to Sahyadri tiger reserve as they thought it will damage their tourism & on the other side entire Sahyadri region is welcoming these tigresses as now tourism will increase here & so will be livelihood of the people! Strange creatures we the humans are; aren’t we, because look at our behaviour as a society with two wild animal species at the same time, in one case we are worshipping tigers & in other case we are at war with leopards! Wisdom is, to stay with the right way of living which is coexistence where all i.e. humans & leopards & tigers will stay at peace together & that’s human’s responsibility only, adios with this remark!