Leopards and Humans Conflict in India - Coursework Example

Human-Wildlife Conflicts Conflicts between humans and wildlife have been a common occurrence for a long period. Human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) normally occur when both human beings and wild animals cross their restricted boundaries on the other side where they are not supposed to be. For instance, according to research on Rajaji national park, wild animals such as the leopards and tiger normally leave their habitats, usually national parks or forests and cross over to land owned by human beings where they attack their livestock (Harihar, Panday & Goyal). Conversely, human beings too normally go into forests hence getting into the wild animals territory. In India, HWC is an issue that the Indian government is ever grappling with. Indians residing close to protected areas are the most affected by the HWC (Harihar, Panday & Goyal). The most common wild animals that cross to human territory is the leopard, this is due to high competition by other predators such as the tiger. The main reason why wild animals come out of their habitat onto human territory is normally in search for food; conversely, human beings also go into forests to hunt for food. The essay will relay information on how human-wildlife conflicts are a major problem in India in addition gives an insight on some of the most appropriate measures that ought to be enacted in order to minimize the conflicts. The most common wild animals that interfere with human life in India are normally carnivorous animals such as leopards, lions and tiger. These animals are normally dangerous to both human beings and domestic animals. Apart from leopards and tigers, birds also pose a threat to Indian farmers (Pradhan et al.). Leopards normally cross over to human territories at night when most of the residents are asleep. The animals normally target livestock such as the goat, which is an easier target. Statistics taken on people residing close to protected areas state that each family has lost an average of 1.55 goats because of attacks from carnivores such as leopards (Pradhan et al.). Although birds are not very harmful to human beings, they interfere a lot with food crops planted by human beings hence result to poor harvests. It is because of this that human-wildlife conflicts are still predominant in India. According to Athreya, only 5% of India is designated for wild animals, this is normally a small portion considering that just like human beings; the population of wild animals also increases with time. The high number of wild animals in the small-designated region normally results to some wild animals escaping into human territory in search for space and food, which are normally scarce in the forest. The topic of human-wild life conflicts is a burning issue in not only developing nations but developed states like the US sometimes are also faced with situations whereby wild animals such as wolves and Pumas leave their protected areas onto human territories (Athreya et al.). In states such as California, mountain lions are the main wild animals that instill fear to the residents since they are a common threat. Conversely, a continent such as Africa, the level of human-wildlife conflict is much higher since the continent has a much higher population of wild animals that comprise of various carnivorous species such as lions, cheetah, Leopards, jackals and so much more. The African continent however, some wild animals such as bears and tigers are rare to find due to the continent’s high climatic conditions. The most common wild animal in India is the leopard, in many occasions they have been seen in human dominated regions and this has always resulted to fierce conflicts, which in most cases human beings are affected more (Athreya et al.). A continuous human-wildlife conflict is the main reason behind the rapid decline of wildlife species such as leopards and the tiger (Harihar, Pandav & Goyal). According to Harihar et al., research shows that total population of tigers globally has declined by 93% for a period in a period of 150 years. Research conducted on Rajaji national park in India showed that the reason why wild animals such as leopards cross over to human territory was normally in search of an alternative sources of food. This is because of stiff competition that exists between carnivores in the protected areas (Harihar, Panday & Goyal). This was identified after a 4-year period research on Rajaji national park whereby through sampling, the results showed that whereas tiger population increased steadily, conversely, the population of leopards also decreased in the same proportion. In the Chilla range, where the research was set up, most of the rivers are seasonal. When rivers dry up especially in hilly regions, this normally results to wildlife migration to the valley where most of the area’s permanent rivers are located. The migration of wildlife to the valley not only does it cause congestion but also results to scarcity of food especially for carnivores due to a large population of various carnivorous species that all depend on the few herbivorous species for food that normally decline with time. It is because of food shortage and high competition from other carnivores that leopards opt to move onto human land to search for alternative food sources (Harihar, Panday & Goyal). According to information from Indians residing close to protected zones, apart from leopards being the most common animal, hyenas are also common sites to the human territory. Most of these animals normally walk in packs hence making it quite difficult to confront (Athreya et al.). since most of these wild animals come onto human land at night to hunt, people residing near these regions, especially men, normally stay out at night in order to guard their livestock from the leopards and hyenas. The research also revealed that high competition among the animals was also the reason behind why some predators such as the leopard opted to hunt for smaller preys. This is enough proof that shortage of prey in the protected areas was the main reason behind the ever-increasing rate of human-wildlife conflicts and is the reason behind the rise of leopards’ domestic prey to 32% from 7% in just a period of four years (Athreya et al.). Many Indians that keep livestock normally reside close to protected areas since it is only in these regions that there is plenty of pasture for the animals. In most cases, human-wildlife conflicts normally result to the killing of wild animals. Indians residing close to forested areas normally kill wild animals out of anger from the losses incurred in addition little efforts coming from the government. Most of the people residing close to protected areas are usually pastoralists and many of them have little knowledge on the importance of wild life to a nation. Continuous human-wildlife conflicts could finally result to extinction of certain species of wildlife and this would greatly affect the tourism sector, which is one of the major contributors of India’s economy. According to research, one of the main contributors in the ever-increasing human-wildlife conflicts is the media (Bhatia et al.). In 2005, when the rate of conflict between wildlife and humans was at its peak, the media ensured that it covered all the reports on the ongoing conflicts. This prompted the Indian government to step in and solve the situation. After the government successfully managed to relocate the wild animals, media houses in Mumbai never ceased talking about human-wildlife conflicts hence giving a perception that wild animals are dangerous animals that ought to be killed least more lives are lost (Bhatia et al.). Therefore, in order to minimize the ever-increasing level of human wildlife conflicts, which is gradually resulting to extinction of some endangered wild animals such as the tiger and leopard, the Indian government ought to come to an agreement with the media. The media ought to know that it is responsible for the high incidences of the human-wildlife conflicts in India. Proper communication and understanding between wild life professionals and media houses will result to a decline of conflicts between humans and wild animals (Bhatia et al.). The media ought to evaluate and review the information it is giving to the public, for instance, instead of focusing only on the conflicts between humans and wild animals, it should be offering more education programs to the public on wild life and its importance in the nation. Residents also ought to be aware that frequent killing of wild animals could result to extinction of certain species of animals such as tiger and leopards. Instead of portraying wild animals as bad, the media should change this perception by stating some of the benefits associated with wild animals. For instance, it is because of certain species of wild animals such as leopards that the nation has a large number of tourists annually. A large number of tourists normally results to an increase of revenue in the economy. Apart from increasing the nation’s revenue, tourism also benefits the nation’s citizens especially those who own businesses such as restaurants and antique shops, this is because most of the tourists spend nights in these restaurants in addition to buying products from antique shops, which they take them back to their nations as souvenirs (Bhatia et al.). Apart from coming in to good terms with media houses on evaluating information aired to the public, the Indian government should take the matter of human-wildlife conflict seriously since its long term consequences could be fatal. The first thing that conservation professionals ought to do is relocation of wild animals that frequently cross over to human territory such as the leopards (Oddenet al.). By relocating such carnivores to other protected areas, this will result to a decline in the cases of human- conflicts. Similarly, since one of the reasons why wild animals such as the leopard cross over is due to competition from other carnivores such as tigers, the relocation should be based in terms of species whereby animals are relocated in relation to their species. For instance, since leopards and tigers are ever competing for the little food available in protected areas, they should not be relocated to the same region. Instead, they should be in different regions to curb their frequent confrontations that normally results to some of them moving on to human land to seek for food that happens to be domestic animals (Odden et al.). It is because of this that human-wildlife conflicts emerge that normally result to death of either the wild animals or humans. Apart from relocation of wild animals from regions inhabited by many people, the Indian government should also come up with programs that will prevent people from continuously encroaching forested regions hence tampering with wild life habitats. The encroaching of protected areas has resulted to the gradual decline in the percentage of forested regions in India. According to Athreya et al., only 5% of India has been set aside as wildlife habitat, but despite human beings owning the remaining 95%, the rate of forest encroaching is still going on at a faster rate, hence depriving wild animals the little habitat that has been allocated to them. One reason behind forest encroachment is due to the raid increase in population. The government also ought to come up with programs that will ensure all persons affected by wild animal attacks are well compensated (Odden et al.). One reason that causes residents residing close to protected areas confront and kill wild animals that attempt to attack livestock is the fact that the government normally does very little in compensating them for the losses of their livestock. Therefore, introduction of compensation will result to rapid decline of wildlife killing, which was normally done out of anger, instead, people will begin treating wild animals fairly (Odden et al.). The government should also educate the public on proper methods of protecting their livestock in order to reduce the number of livestock being attacked by wild animals. First, conservation professionals should advice people that reside near protected areas not to allow their livestock to roam around aimlessly without a guard. Leaving livestock to roam by themselves normally attracts the attention of wild animals. The residents should also be encouraged to rear domestic dogs (Odden et al.). According to Odden et al., rearing of domestic dogs would reduce numerous attacks by wild animals that normally hunt at night when many people are asleep. The dogs would play a critical role in alerting livestock keepers when wild animals emerge from the forest. Just like wild animals, birds have also been a nuisance to Indians residing close to protected areas. This is because whereas the leopard target livestock such as goats and cattle, wild birds are always after destroying famers’ crops. By destroying crops, the birds normally result to poor harvests hence loss of capital (Klaivanan et al.). It is because of the losses residents residing near protected regions incur that some have come up with their own ways of protecting themselves from more losses since little is being done by the government and in specific, conservation professionals. Some of heinous mechanisms that the residents have come up with include poisoning both wild animals and birds that are ever destroying their property. According to Klaivanan et al., the common compound used to poison both the wild animals and birds is Phorate. Although most of the residents were poisoning the animals with the assumption that they were protecting the property they had strived to acquire, little did they know that they were ruining the animals’ ecosystem. This is because, some of the poisons being used are so lethal to the extent that they do not stop at the target animal but spread to others in what is called secondary poisoning (Klaivanan et al.). Due to the high level of illiteracy on matters of wildlife, most of the residents are never aware that killing of animals such as leopards could eventually result to the disruption of the ecological pyramid whereby the species ranks on the upper tropical level. Indians citizens ought to know that continuous killing of carnivores in the name of protecting their property and livestock will end up altering wildlife ecosystem whose effects could be fatal (Klaivanan et al.). For instance, continuous killing of leopards will eventually result to extinction of this species; this will result to an increase of herbivores that the two animals used to prey on. The increase of herbivores will sequentially result to rapid decline of pasture that farmers residing near protected regions mostly depend on for their livestock. Some of the most common animals that attack and destroy farmers’ crops include wild pigs, barking deer and the Indian Peacock (Pradhan et al.). Of all animals that destroy crops, wild pigs are the most destructive; this is because apart from devouring crops, the wild pig also uproots pastures in addition to spreading diseases to both human beings and animals. Just like the leopard, wild pigs also come out at a night hence making it hard to spot them since they are always in the camouflage of darkness. The fact that the wild pigs have the ability to live anywhere in addition to their high rate of reproduction is enough proof that the animal can be disastrous once they set foot in farmers’ crops. Due to little effort from the conservation professionals and the Indian government is the reason why most of the residents have come up with their own ways of protecting their crops. The most common ways that Indian farmers are applying to prevent their crops from being destroyed by wild pigs and birds include constant vigilance especially during crop seasons (Pradhan et al.). Apart from keeping vigilance especially at night, farmers have also set up scarecrows all over their fields; this is in a move to frighten any animals or birds that may attempt to approach resident’s farms. Human-wildlife conflicts occur when either human beings or wild animals cross their restricted boundaries such that wild animals cross over to human territory or human beings going into the forest, which is a protected area for wild animals. In most cases, the main reason why both human and wild animals cross over to each other’s territories is that both of them are on hunting spree in search for food that lacks in their current place of residence. Whereas wild animals move to human land in search for domestic animals, human beings go into the forest to hunt for food. Continuous killing of livestock by wild animals such as the leopard is the reason why residents who live close to protected areas also fight back by killing the leopards. Continuous killing of wild animals such as the leopard will eventually result to their extinction whose population is already low. Apart from killing of domestic animals by the leopards, residents also suffer from destruction of crops by animals such as the wild pigs. Continuous damaging of crops is the reason why most of the farmers get poor harvests and this has resulted to massive loss of capital. Since conservation professionals and the government are doing little effort, the residents have devised their own ways of minimizing the rate of crop destruction and livestock attacks by wild animals. Some of the ways applied by the residents include poisoning the wild animals with compounds such as Phorate. To keep animals and birds away from further destroying crops, farmers have also erected scarecrows in addition to keeping vigilance especially during crop season. Work Cited Athreya, Vidya, Odden, Morten, Linnell, John, D., Krishnaswamy, Jagdish & Karanth, Ullas. "Big Cats In Our Backyards: Persistence Of Large Carnivores In A Human Dominated Landscape In India." Plos ONE 8.3 (2013): 1-8. Web. 18 April2014. Bhatia, Saloni, Athreya, Vidya, Grenyer, Richard & MacDonald, David, W. "Understanding The Role Of Representations Of Human-Leopard Conflict In Mumbai Through Media- Content Analysis." Conservation Biology 27.3 (2013): 588-594. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Harihar, Abishek, Bivash Pandav, & Surendra P. Goyal. "Responses of Leopard Panthera Pardus To The Recovery Of A Tiger Panthera Tigris Population." Journal of Applied Ecology 48.3 (2011): 806-814. Web. 18 April 2014. Kalaivanan, Nallusamy, Venkataramanan, Ragothaman, Sreekumar, Chirukandoth, Saravanan, Alagarsamy 7 Srivastava, Rajeev, K. “Secondary phorate poisoning of large carnivores in India.” Springer Link. 57.1 (2011): 191-194. web. 22 April 2014. Odden, Morten, Athreya, Vidya, Linnell, John,D. & Karanth, Ullas, K. “Translocation as a Tool for Mitigating Conflict with Leopards in Human-Dominated Landscapes of India.” Conservation Biology 25.1 (2011): 133-141.Web. 22 April 2014. Pradhan, Vikram, Dar, A., M., Rather, Maqbool, M., Panwar, Monika & Pala, Nazir, A., “Human-wildlife Conflict in Kitam Bird Sanctuary: Perceptions and Possible Solutions.” The Indian Forester. 138.10 (2012). Web. 22 April 2014. Read More