When a leopard strayed into and then gracefully left Hema Malini’s bungalow in the Dindoshi area of northwest Mumbai a week or so back, it became an off-beat news item. Something that people ought to have found funny. What with the Dream Girl finding a new fan, and all that. The incident, however, was anything but off-beat. The news media, by and large, missed the point by miles. The point often lies in contextualising an incident, in this case it certainly had. The myopic failed to notice the spots.
It would have been a heaven-sent opportunity to paint the larger picture of the human-wildlife conflict in India. More precisely, that between humans and leopards. The intensity of human-leopard conflict has reached such serious proportions in the last few years that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests even issued guidelines for human-leopard conflict management earlier this April.
The guidelines, the first of their kind, were based on consultations with scientists and experts who have worked on the issue, besides various scientific studies and reports. The guidelines outlined a three-pronged strategy to deal with human-leopard conflict. Top among them was the issue of awareness generation among local communities, media, and officials of various government departments, since it is “vital to educate the various stakeholders regarding the various aspects of the issue. It will build confidence and pave the way for cooperation between various departments like police, revenue, and forest, in addition to local communities, while addressing conflict situations.”
Given the rate of expansion of human population, conflicts with carnivores are becoming more frequent countrywide. Leopards, for their part, are highly adaptable and can vary their diet. In areas where the natural prey species have dwindled, it is common for leopards to prey on humans, dogs, cows, goats, among others. The economic losses of livestock and human depredation often escalate these conflicts.
Some of the states highly affected by this conflict are like Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, and Jammu and Kashmir. But if there is any city that has been in the news for human-leopard conflict, it has been Mumbai, which has the 104 sq km Sanjay Gandhi National Park, better known as Borivli, on its western fringes. The park not only serves as the city’s lungs, it also has two lakes, Tulsi and Vihar, that supply Mumbai with freshwater. It is also home to 24 leopards, as per a 2008 census report.
But the natural habitat of the SGNP leopard is fast disappearing due to encroachment from slums and residential complexes. Its enclosures have been breached in many places. These, and decreased prey abundance force leopards to roam out into surrounding shanty quarters. The driving out factor is one of food, and leopards find easy prey among domestic animals in these settlements.
Between 2002 and 2007, 18 people were injured and 36 others killed due to leopard attacks inside Borivli, and 23 injured and 21 killed outside. Four of every five victims were children. Others were adults either sleeping outside or with doors open. Affected families were offered compensation, but the park continues to reel under the assault from an engulfing Mumbai. There have been many instances of leopards being killed too while chasing prey, by speeding vehicles on the Western Express and Eastern Express highways. Given the backdrop, there was a lot to write about the Hema leopard incident.
The only voice of reason came from Hema herself. “This incident shows the extent we have encroached into the animals’ space. We have taken over their territory and that is why they are straying into ours. They have nowhere to go. I have requested the forest department officials to ensure that there’s not a single scratch on the leopard’s body. One should deal with them in a sympathetic way.”
And the media, by and large, missed this point.
