The phenomenon of urban carnivores is seen across the world and rural Indians have always lived with wildlife, said biologist Vidya Athreya, at a workshop about the man-animal conflict in and around Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai (SGNP).
The 103sq km SGNP is one of the four national parks that are surrounded by urban environs. With 2,000 people per sq km, the park also provides us ecosystems services, and provides the city with about 10% of it’s drinking water from its forests.
In order to analyse this man-animal conflict, a participatory research project was started in November 2011 to study the relationship between leopards and people in the park and areas around it, including the adjoining 12.8 sq km Aarey Milk Colony.
Researchers stated that a total of 21 leopards lived in the park, “four times the density of the number of animals than one expected”. But the proximity of leopards living so close to humans is not new, an expert said, adding that leopards have always lived near settlements in Maharashtra since British times.
Warning the administration against trapping leopards after an attack, and releasing them elsewhere, Athreya stated, “We observed that attacks on people occur around release sites.”
Researchers explained that meat disposal in Aarey Milk Colony, garbage generated by slum-dwellers from illegal hutments and from housing colonies, attract dogs – an easy prey for a leopard. According to BMC figures, Aarey Colony alone has 700 dogs who have been released here from different parts of the city.
The slums in the park don't come under the jurisdiction of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and so the garbage generated by them is never collected.
“A leopard can survive on a dog for a week, it's easier than hunting a deer,” a researcher elaborated. The researchers revealed that leopards are extremely shy creatures and their first reaction is to run away from humans. “Attacks can either be accidental or purposeful. But it's best not to let little children out unaccompanied in the dark.
Another misconception that the experts wanted to dispel that trapping the animal is a solution to prevent attacks. “Trapping doesn't decrease their number but opens up space for more animals to come and occupy the space. Also, it's hard to tell which leopard has attacked humans, as many of them use the same path,” said Athreya.
Director of SGNP Sunil Limaye commented on the one of the biggest hurdles faced by the forest department in controlling the conflict, “Encroachment is the biggest problem. There are 10,000 illegal residents in the park. We've been facing this problem for 15 years.” A 2.5mt concrete wall will be constructed over 92 km to control this problem.
Stating that the human-animal conflict cases have decreased in Maharashtra, experts said the best way to handle the situation when a leopard walks into a human habitation is to control the crowd and ensure that the animal is safe. “A leopard walked into Dhule town and the Collector had a presence of mind to impose Section 144 to dispel the crowd and prevent any untoward incident.”
The research team even teamed up with 13 police stations in the vicinity of the park to educate the police about what to do prevent damage to the public and the animal.
In case of a leopard sighting, call
Control Room: 100, 22621855, 22621983, 22625020
Borivli: 28906606, 28930145
Aarey: 29272484, 29272494
Dindoshi (Goregaon E): 28786300, 24691205
If a leopard is surrounded by a mob or a person attacked, call
SGNP control room: 28866449
Thane Forest division control room number: 25445459
In case you are unable to get through the control room, call volunteers:
Zeeshan Mirza (Aarey): 9619493448, 9664987540
Rajesh Sanap (Aarey): 9664987541
Sonu Singh (Mulund Darshan): 9833678828
Yogesh Band (Borivli E): 8097582519
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