The fur of the unconscious leopard was matted in blood as angry villagers rained blows on it. On receiving the news of a leopard near Amarpura village in the Parsad Forest Range, about 37 km from Udaipur in mid-April, forest officials had come on the scene and tranquilised the leopard. But there was no going past the mob to rescue the prostrate cat. Around the same time, in Dungarpur, a two-year-old leopard fell into a ditch. Instead of rescuing the animal, people pelted stones on her till her life ebbed away. Both these leopards were charged with attacking people. In another forest range near Udaipur last February, a leopard was killed by villagers.
The instances of leopards being lynched to death has been on the rise in southern Rajasthan as well as in other parts of India. The cause of concern may not be related to the number of leopards, but our attitude towards them.
The main reason of animosity towards leopards is the killing of livestock, which hurts people’s sources of income. But this is not a recent phenomenon. Naturalists of yore had divided big cats into game killers, maneaters and cattle lifters. The cattle lifters, bulkier than game killers, lived on the fringes of the forest, surviving mainly on domestic animals, which were easier to hunt. A buffalo or bullock provides sufficient food for a big cat for a week-and-a-half.
In the late 19th century, the human population was sparse and vast tracks of Indian forests had abundant wild ungulates. In 1875, J Frayer’s book, The Royal Tiger of Bengal: His Life and Death,quoted the research of Captain B Rogers of the Indian army, who had studied the habits of Indian wildlife and the destruction cause by them: “The loss of property, which the ravages of carnivora entailed, amounted to 10 million pounds annually.” The Parliament of England proposed hunting the carnivores extensively. Locals, who produced the tail of the killed animal, were duly rewarded.
The scale of destruction of cattle, goats and other domestic stock was massive even then, as leopards and tigers do not depend solely on wild animals for food. Even in early 1950s, while travelling inside Jaisamand shikar gaah (hunting reserve) of the Maharana of Mewar, one had to get down from the car to move the large herds of sambar deer, dazzled by the headlight, to clear the way. Despite such a robust population of deer and antelopes, there were daily complaints from villagers about big cats doing considerable damage to their livestock. In the present day, this problem has magnified. In the era of social media, the man-animal conflict gets highlighted out of proportion, building fear and animosity towards the cats.
Practical and easy measures can be taken by the forest authorities to ease this conflict. As the numbers of vultures and other scavengers have reduced significantly, the dead cattle rot for weeks. There are places away from the village, where villagers dispose of them. These cadavers can be kept on the jungle tracks for the wild carnivores. There is a belief that tigers and leopards prefer fresh meat, killed by them. This is a myth. Big cats prefer high (rotten) meat, as it is easy to tear from the bones.
Concurrently, measures should be taken to increase the population of wild ungulates like hare and wild boars. Both are prolific breeders. In the open fields and forests of Udaipur region alone, the numbers of hares, which are a fallback prey for leopards, is estimated to have dropped by 80 per cent due to the paucity of grass and fodder (doob and rajka) and because of poaching. Hares can be bred in forest enclosures and the excess stock released in forests at regular intervals. These measures will help the carnivores thrive and reduce the attacks on cattle.
Leopards have no ego. They can survive on any prey, including rats. They are highly adaptable and elusive, and live side by side with tigers as well as lions, making them the most widespread big cat in India. There is much to learn from a leopard. To tread silently and merge in the shadows when you are not wanted. To survive on one kill for several days and leave the bones for the hyenas. To be resilient and co-exist with those who are not like you. Will we let these cats, who see us a hundred times before we see them once, co-exist with us? Or, will we let a cub call softly for a mother who will never return? That is the primal question.
Raza H Tehsin is a naturalist and former member, Wildlife Advisory Board, Government of Rajasthan. Arefa Tehsin is an author and former Hon. wildlife warden, Udaipur
