The Hindu Business Line : Treading on big cat's turf

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park could well be Mumbai's pride, but recent leopard attacks have made it a problem. Blame the deaths on poor safety measures and also on residential complexes encroaching into protected forest area. It's time for man to play fair.

It's grim silence and a luscious green forest cover that greet you as you enter the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). Couched between a concrete jungle of matchbox residential complexes and flyovers, Mumbai's very own natural habitat for leopards has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Fourteen dead from leopard attacks this year (2004), of which 10 deaths came in June alone — the statistics, seen in isolation, are spine-chilling. But the reasons for conflict are obvious— the big cat's natural habitat of 103 sq km is getting boxed-in by increasing pressure from a growing metropolis. The green-line defining the animal's home is being constantly breached by land-sharks, say conservationists. Residential complexes thrive cheek-by-jowl with the protected forest area and some of them actually share a boundary wall with the carnivore's home! So who has crossed the line here, they ask.

"The forest area belongs to the leopard habitat. Encroachments and human settlements came much later. When we as humans don't respect boundary walls and laws, how can we expect the leopard to be confined by walls. The escalation in attacks is because of the encroachments and proximity to human habitation. Boundary walls are just lines on a map and mean nothing to the leopard," says reputed environmentalist Debi Goenka. Satish Phale, Assistant Conservator of Forests, at SGNP, agrees. "People have entered into the forest area. About 46,000 encroachments have already been removed as per earlier Court orders. But the park is a vast area extending between Borivali, Dahisar, Mulund, Goregaon and Powai. When constructions come up so close to the natural park, they restrict the movement of the animals in the jungle. There is no dearth of prey in the park. There are about 250 deer and 33 leopards. We have still to identify why there has been an increase in attacks. But the increasing encroachments and human activity brings in dogs as pets or scavengers and they become easy prey for the leopards."

The Park's veterinarian, Dr Kishore Bhatwe, concurs. "There is no decrease in prey-base. What the leopard is doing is natural for any living being — to opt for the easier alternative, in this case, the dog. When one is in a jungle or close to it, one has to live by the simple norms of the jungle, since the habitat has been in existence for a long time and the city has grown around it," he says.

Located close to SGNP is Aarey Milk Colony and a resident who has been living here for over 20 years recalls: "It was safe and we used to take night walks after dinner, with no fear of attacks from leopards. Now we don't go out at night." Teenagers living in the neighbourhood soon join this elderly resident as he watches Forest officials place a cage to trap a leopard that has been visiting a local water-source in the colony. "We have never heard of leopard attacks in all these years. The reason for the recent conflict is because of the encroachments and garbage dumps," observes a youngster.

Aarey colony, housing dairy-units belonging to the Government's Animal Husbandry department, has witnessed some of the leopard-related killings. And teenagers flocking to watch the cage being laid near the water-source want the crisis resolved quickly: "There are places in this area that are too dark to enter even during the day, as the forest cover is thick. Some people claim to have seen a female leopard and it's cubs. Surely, the animal has not travelled across from SGNP, it must be living in the thickly forested areas here. The Government should take quick action to make the place safe for the people living here and the animals too."

Another youngster adds insightfully, "There are several units that have closed down in our colony and greenery has grown around them. This becomes a good place for the animal to hide. We have never had to live in fear, but the leopard's behaviour reflects that we have disturbed nature's balance somewhere."

Despite the attacks in their colony, the youngsters bear no malice towards the animal. Expressing grief for the lives that have been lost as a result of the attacks, they say: "After the first few attacks, when people were told to take simple precautions such as not leaving children unattended or sleeping outside their homes, they should have behaved more responsibly. When the Government is trying to get a hold on the situation, people need to take that extra precaution."

Kishor Rithe, President of Nature Conservation Society, also feels that the crux of the problem is shrinkage of habitat due to pressure from human settlements and the builder's lobby. "Leopards as a species confine themselves to the fringes of forest regions, as lions and tigers take the core forest region. So historically, leopards live close to human settlements," he points out. Mumbai's park is unique in that it is in the city. But the powers that be should have taken care to see that a buffer-region was maintained around the forest, to prevent such conflicts. Buffer areas are calculated depending on the type of wildlife that the habitat is home to. And considering that SGNP is home to the leopard, the area around the park should have been kept completely free of buildings and other human settlements," he says.

A conversation with Mumbaikars evokes different reactions. Some feel the Government needs to be held accountable, "since the residential complexes, never mind how close they are to the park, have come up with permission from the authorities." But there are others who weep for the metropolis's green areas that face a constant onslaught from land-sharks. "Mumbai should tell the world that it is not just about the bulls and bears (the stock market), but about big cats too! The city has been blessed with a natural habitat. If any other country had such a facility, they would have made it the pride of the city, in terms of a venue for eco-tourism. Mumbaikars should fight to keep the green-patch with its carnivorous inhabitants, rather than kill it by grabbing all the land for more flats. The tribal or adivasi population living in the forest knows how to live in harmony with these animals. It is we urbanites who are crossing the line and getting too close for comfort," says a media executive.

"As a country, we are less sensitive to our animals," says another young professional despite the fact that he was "chased" by a leopard in Film City, also on the fringes of the national park! "Last month, I watched a horrific clip on television that showed how a leopard in Uttar Pradesh was doused in kerosene and petrol and set ablaze." The news clip showed that the animal had entered the ground floor of a house. The people went to safety onto the first floor and from there doused the animal in kerosene and set it on fire. The amateur news clip showed the animal on fire running in pain and fear. It eventually died. "With humans increasingly putting pressure on the green-areas in the country, such horrific incidents are going to continue," he adds. There are numerous such incidents across the country that reflect the pressure that urban needs are putting on green-space, say conservationists. "Rogue" monkeys are killed with a vengeance, as seen recently in Kerala, or elephant families are mowed down by trains, since the tracks run through forest area, as happened last month. Back in Mumbai, Goenka says, "Given that the crisis is already at our door-step, the park needs a wall around it. It is a deterrent for starters. People need to take precautions till a host of other measures bear fruit, including removing garbage from the neighbourhood and reducing the dog-population." A sound note of advice, wrapped in a passionate plea, comes from a round-officer with the Forest department at SGNP. "People in this country need to understand that by disturbing nature, we are in fact creating trouble for ourselves. Yes, in this case, the leopard is more unpredictable than other jungle animals. But if we keep our distance and don't infringe on its home, the animal usually avoids human contact," he says. He should know, considering that he still patrols the forest and its adjoining areas at night, equipped with no more than a stick. And sometimes not even that.

Picture by Paul Noronha

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