Not so wild

The now familiar pictures of leopards being attacked by mobs in Meerut or Mumbai, Guwahati or Erode, have troubled wildlife experts like Vidya Athreya for years. Here, the biologist talks about the challenges of survival for man and animal in a crowded country that would do well to look back and embrace some of its traditional ways.

Why did you choose to study leopards?

I did not choose leopards. I chose interaction (or what’s often called ‘conflict’), and it’s fascinating, because not only does it involve studying animals, but it also involves people. It has social, political and cultural dimensions.

Is that why so many of the projects you’ve worked on have local names that suggest traditional man-animal ties?

Most of us know of Project Tiger, a State-run programme started in 1973, but have never heard of, say, Waghoba, a large cat deity in Central and Western India, after which we named one of our leopard-centric projects.

Ovitla Langda or poetry of the wolf, another project I’m currently associated with (apart from leopard studies in West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh), derives its name from and celebrates the association of the Dhangar community of shepherds with wolves and other animals in Maharashtra’s grasslands.

What were the most startling findings in your recent paper ‘Adaptable Neighbours’?

There were many. But perhaps the most important one — through what was India’s first-ever GPS-based leopard study — is that leopards are residents in and around human settlements, not stray or ‘conflict’ animals.

For this joint study, five ‘problem’ leopards, of which three were females, were trapped in human-dominated areas. Two were moved 50km away and the rest, closer to the site of capture. They were tracked for up to a year. In time, the first two walked further away (89km and 45km), increasing the chances of conflict as they passed through high-density settlements, including industrial areas — proving that translocation as a strategy is ineffectual. The other three cats occupied the smallest recorded home ranges anywhere in the world — between 8sqkm to 15sqkm. This was because access to food, such as stray dogs and rodents, especially around garbage dumps, was easier. If we lessen these sources, they would have to increase their home range, reducing the possibility of conflict. Also, all the big cats steered clear of people, venturing out at night.

A lot of focus today, including in Project Tiger, is on wildlife in protected areas, which account for only 5 per cent. There are plenty of animals beyond the fences... animals don’t understand manmade boundaries!

If wild animals have been staying near people for a long time, why has conflict increased?

I am not sure if the ‘conflict’ has increased or the reporting of it in the media. To a large extent, media reports focus on negative interactions. So we assume that animals can only cause trouble. But ask those who work with them and they will tell you that wild animals are very shy, secretive and scared of humans, that their response is always to run away.

Is there a foolproof way of tackling the issue?

No. But we can minimise damage with better understanding and by using age-old methods of handling these situations with the help of locals. Wild animals go out of their way to avoid people. Those who share space with them must use traditional, proactive ways such as protecting livestock at night.

So far, most of our strategies were reactive. The government spent crores on compensation instead of protection. But when farmers don’t get fair compensation, it leads to increased anger that can easily be taken out on the wild animals around them. Rural folk, however, are more used to their presence in their surroundings than their counterparts in the city. Trapping and removing them is not the solution; it only increases the problem.

Have you ever been in harm’s way?

No. Leopards, like other animals or even human beings, are ferocious only when provoked. When we study them, we ensure they are not badly treated. Collaring is done under anesthesia and overseen by vets, so we don’t endanger their lives or ours.

Memorable ‘good encounters’?

There are many, but most involve working with the forest department in Akole, Sangamner, in northwest Maharashtra. Once we had collared a leopard and it was sitting in a trap in the forest nursery. A local forest staff, who was making sure no one disturbs it, called me one evening to report that just as he was leaving for home — he was waiting at a bus stop nearby — a journalist drove by on his motorbike toward the nursery in search of the leopard. I told him to divert him somehow. When I reached a while later, there were a bunch of kids playing near the gate. They said when the journalist asked them where the leopard was, they told him it was taken away, and they said this with a straight face. We laughed and treated the children to a kilo of jalebis that day!

What about methods of study? Do animals suffer due to microchips or radio-collars?

They might, just as we might be bothered by the weight of gold chains or injections. But it is impossible to study these large cats in any other way. We must understand them better to increase awareness and frame policy.

Have you ever grown attached to a big cat?

I like all animals but I’m not an ‘animal lover’, and I like people as well. I work on the issue of shared spaces; I can’t put one above the other.

( Parikshit Suryavanshiis a researcher, translator and writer based in Aurangabad )

COMMENT NOW