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Thursday,
May 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Spotted beasts on the prowl Shimla, April 30 While Nirmala Devi showed exemplary courage in killing a leopard with a sickle after a bloody fight at Pipli village in Mandi last week, Krishna Devi, who was mauled by another prowling big cat at Dhamodhar village in Solan district yesterday, has been lucky to survive. Had the villagers not come to her rescue after hearing her shouts, it would have been a different story. She is being treated at the Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital here along with Nirmala. Only last month a three-year-old child fell prey to a leopard in the Dehra Forest Division. There have been six incidents of the wild cat attacking human beings and taking away domestic animals. The Forest Department laid traps to catch the animal but to no avail. The residents are now demanding that the beast, which is getting dangerous with each passing day, be declared a man-eater so that it can be eliminated. The leopard is among highly protected species and killing it is an offence under the Wildlife Act, punishable with a minimum of three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. With protective measures in place the population of leopards has been increasing steadily. There were about 120 leopards as per the 1984 cat census. The number increased to 1004 in 1997, including 32 snow leopards which thrive in high-altitude areas and hardly come across human beings. The protected areas (sanctuaries and national parks) accounted for 193 leopards. No cat census had been conducted in the state since. In the past one year about 60 cases of leopards attacking on humans have been reported in which five persons lost their lives and 32 sustained grievous injuries. The Forest Department has paid Rs 10.20 lakh as compensation to the victims. The officers of the Wildlife Department, however, maintain that the increase in the cat population is not the main reason behind the increasing human-animal conflict. It has more to do with the shrinking and fragmentation of forests by roads, impounding of rivers and encroachments. Very few forest areas, which provide the ideal habitat to wildlife, have been left in the state. The fragmentation confines the cat to a small forest area which does not have enough prey for it to survive. It has no option but to move to another forest during which it comes across human habitations. With not much prey available in the forests the leopards look for alternatives like domestic cattle and pet dogs. Human beings are not a natural prey but once it tastes human blood it becomes a man-eater. The leopard, unlike the tiger is a clever animal, which virtually steals its prey. Villagers have to venture deep into the forests to collect fuelwood and graze cattle. Over 12 per cent of the state’s total geographic area (7114 sq km) is under sanctuaries and national parks. However, the incidents of attacks on humans are not taking in villages located within the sanctuaries or in its peripheries but in open forest areas. The reason is obvious. The protected areas are well stocked with wildlife and the leopards are not short of prey. It is only in areas where forests have been destroyed that the leopards make frequent forays into villages. The leopards have been at the receiving end. In the past six years 55 leopards have been killed by villagers by putting up traps and snares. The wildlife authorities do not see any hope of the animal-human conflict coming to an end. The two have to co-exist.  |
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