Contrary to the picture being painted by the media, humans and leopards are learning to co-exist in Western Maharashtra. The observations submitted by Project Waghoba to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the statistics made available by the State Forest Department show that even as leopards' interference in human habitat has increased, their adaptability for each other is getting better.
The latest findings of Project Waghoba suggest that the situation in the Junnar Forest Division (JFD), a region notorious for the maximum number of leopard-human conflict in Maharashtra, is improving. Project Waghoba was started in 2007 in association with the Forest Department, to understand the changing behavioural patterns of wild cats and humans.
Vidya Athreya, in charge of Project Waghoba and a recipient of the Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award, is one of the contributors from Maharashtra for MoEF's report, on leopard-human conflict, that will be released soon.
According to statistics by the Junnar Forest Department officials, the number of attacks on humans by leopards has been reduced to more than half in the last five years, compared to the 2000-2005 period. There were 56 cases of human deaths and injuries caused by attacks from wild cats during 2000 to 2005, whereas the number went down to 26 in the years 2006 to 2011 (until January), officials said.
Ms. Athreya, a wildlife biologist, said: “During our studies, a lot of farmers from the leopard-infested areas told us that the animal is a frequent visitor to the fields, where they faced no danger. This shows that both animals and humans have become empathetic to each other.”
According to Ms. Athreya, this reality contradicts the picture currently being created in the media that the leopard-human conflict is on the rise.
Calm unless provoked
“The wild cat does not turn into a man eater unless provoked. They venture into human habitats when they smell prey, which is the livestock of dogs and pigs. We have suggested to the MoEF that subsidies should be provided to build sheds for livestock to protect them from the leopards,” Ms. Athreya said.
