Why blame the speechless leopards?

Maharashtra’s leopard attacks are the bloodied consequence of unbridled urbanisation, where the appetite for ‘development’ has devoured habitats.

The growing number of leopard attacks in ‘progressive’ Maharashtra should be a concern for all those humans who seemingly insatiable appetite for infrastructural development and expansion of cities comes at the cost of nature.

Thus far, almost 40 casualties have been reported from Nashik, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Pune and Ahilya Nagar areas. A lethal attack by the ferocious animal has also occurred near Nagpur. Maharashtra is one of the major states where great natural habitats had existed for wildlife to flourish in an organic manner. Yet, this kind of man-animal conflict is being witnessed there; it proves that adequate conflict mitigation steps were not planned. This chain of attacks is not only unfortunate, the incidents point to the abject failure of Maharashtra government as also of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

Failed Plans

The MoEFCC is in charge of the protected forests, national parks and tiger reserves; the ministry makes policies for the green areas to sustain. These are the natural enclaves where the wild animals are expected to stay and grow with constant improvements in habitats and prey base. Wildlife Preservation Act 1972 is a central Act for wildlife protection in every possible manner but that is falling short of saving animals. It is noteworthy that the MoEFCC had issued a grand National Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Strategy and Action Plan (HWC-NAP) in 2021. The action plan ends in 2026 and it seems the plan largely remained on papers or confined to handing out pay cheques as compensation to victims. Conflicts have not reduced at all despite many goals set in the five-year plan.

As for the spurt in leopard attacks, the Maharashtra Forest department alone must not be blamed or held responsible for the recent untoward developments because other departments like agriculture, industry, revenue and chiefly the urban development, also have a significant role in controlling these incidents--directly or indirectly. Shrinking green area in Maharashtra is a major cause of the wild animals straying into urban areas in search of food. If Kokan and Western Ghats are deducted, forest cover would slip into single digit which should worry Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis.

What cost urbanisation?  That his forest minister Ganesh Naik has little or no understanding of forest and wildlife management is a different matter. His ridiculous remarks about conflict mitigation measures have exposed him completely.

Unbridled Expansion

Maharashtra is among the most rapidly urbanised states, leaving little pockets for the wildlife to thrive. Cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nagpur, Sambhaji Nagar, or Nashik are expanding at a frightening speed; the road infrastructure is being pushed as if there is there is no tomorrow. Real estate prices are hitting the roof. Tree-cutting controversies in Mumbai or in Nashik (Tapovan) are too well-known for me to repeat here. 

Additionally, Maharashtra has the second largest population of leopards (1985), an animal species which is shy but aggressive when hungry. Leopards were not known to be man-eaters but with changing rural-urban landscape in Maharashtra, the conflict is getting intensified. Who is responsible? Not the leopards, for sure.

After Maharashtra, the highest number of leopards are found in MP (3,907) but attacks on humans are rare there. In fact, even tigers roam in municipal limits of Bhopal. No extreme conflict has been (luckily) recorded in which tiger has attacked humans in Bhopal.

With more forested areas in Madhya Pradesh than in Maharashtra, wild animals have better homes of their own.

The leopard-human conflict is part of an increasing trend in human wildlife conflict (HWC), seen across India. Between tiger and humans; elephants and humans these conflicts get highlighted from places like Chhattisgarh, UP, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. But it gets tragic turn when human lives are lost, like what is happening in Maharashtra. Elsewhere, black buck or blue bulls have been raiding farmlands to devour standing crops resulting in peasants complaining of losses and turning against wildlife in general. 

Madhya Pradesh is witnessing wild elephants menace for the past few years; it is a new phenomenon. The jumbos were not found in Madhya Pradesh’s forests, they have travelled from Odisha, Jharkhand in search of food and water. The government had formed two expert panels to investigate the issue and contain losses.

The problem with Maharashtra is its unmindful urbanisation. Already, 45 percent or more people live in cities. It looks like Pune and Mumbai may merge soon as both are expanding with madding speed eating up open lands and forest/grass lands between the two mega cities. State also grows sugar cane--these fields are ideal for leopards to hide and breed. The issue revolves around these two areas.

Although Melhgat, Tadoba and Western Ghats have dense forested areas, the leopard-human conflict is the direct result of fragmentation of habitats and growing urban areas.

Only a long-term green policy can save humans from this. Sending a few animals to the BJP-favoured ‘Vantara’ is not the solution. Blaming leopards will surely not help!

(The writer is a senior political and environmental journalist based in Bhopal. Views personal.)