Leopards and Humans Conflict in india - Essay Example

Leopards and Humans Conflict in India Human wildlife conflicts (HWC) is not a new occurrence especially in India. These conflicts have been around for ages whereby wild animals like leopards cross over to human territories in search for food where they target livestock (Pradhan et al.). In a move to save their domestic animals, humans normally fight back the wild animals and in most cases; some of the leopards die, which is normally an inconvenience to the government because boosting tourism heavily depends upon these wild animals.

This study will shed more light on human wild life conflicts, its effects on human beings and measures needed to curb the conflicts. HWC normally come in a number of ways but the most common methods are crop destruction and the attacking of livestock. Many Indians who reside close to forest boundaries are farmers that mostly depend on agriculture (Pradhan et al.). Most of them normally keep domestic animals due to the abundance of grass in the forest. Forested regions normally receive a large amount of rainfall hence an ideal place to reside for farmers.

In order to curb human-wildlife conflicts, the Indian government ought to come up with a more stable idea whereby both humans and wild animals will benefit. According to an interview on approximately 103 respondents residing in 5 different villages close to Kitam bird sanctuary, continuous destruction of crops by wild birds such as the Indian peacocks has not only resulted to loss of crops but also money that farmers have invested in the crops (Pradhan et al.). Apart from birds, wild animals have also resulted to a massive extermination of domestic animals.

According to the research, approximately 1.55 goats have been lost to wild animals in each homestead (Pradhan et al.). According to some interviewees, goats are normally the most targeted especially by the leopard (Pradhan et al.).Therefore, the government ought to come up with a lasting solution because the only methods used by residents to protect their crops and animals mostly are non-lethal methods such as guarding their crops and wildlife at nighttime. Apart from guarding the crops and animals, residents have also devised other methods such as the use of scare cows to frighten wild animals (Pradhan et al.). Research cites several factors, which the government and its citizens can embrace to minimize the rate of HWC in India.

One of the possible solutions to human wildlife conflicts is to minimize the rate at which the media reports HWC issues (Bhatia et al. 588). According to research so far conducted, the mass media is responsible for portraying false information about wild animals to the public, hence negatively influencing people to exterminate them, which creates pessimistic attitudes towards wild animals (Bhatia et al. 587) In a densely populated area like India, a protected area is normally of great importance.

Unfortunately, only 5% of India is protected, this is because the nation’s large population is the main reason for shortage of land. For this reason, many wild animals move from the densely populated forested region into human land hence resulting to frequent HWC that normally yield to loss of lives (Athreya et al. 2).This calls for quick response in changing not only the wildlife habitats from protected areas but also applying landscape conservation approach (Athreya et al 3.). According to the study conducted, one reason causing many leopards to move out of protected areas is due to the large number of tigers in these areas (Harihar et al. 807). Since these are two different predators, it is usually hard for them to stay together.

Because tigers are more powerful than leopards, which forces the latter moving out to human land in search of food (Harihar et al. 806).Therefore, wildlife conservationists ought to launch compensation or insurance programs for people who will lose their livestock due to HWC (Harihar et al.807). Another solution of minimizing HWC is the translocation of leopards to regions where there is little or no human population. Though this is not a permanent solution because some leopards usually find their way to neighboring homesteads, but it aids in minimizing HWC (Threya et al. 1). Continuous attacks by leopards have made many residents result to resolve wildlife poisoning.

The issue of wildlife poisoning ought to be addressed quickly because most of the animals poisoned such as the leopard are already endangered species. Therefore, if leopards were to be extinct, this will not only affect the ecology but will also affect the tourism, sector (Kalaivanan et al. 191). Conflicts between human beings and wildlife in India have been an issue for a long period. Wild animals such as the leopards normally stray from protected areas into human territory in search of food where they mostly target livestock.

The reason of these conflicts is due to the highly populated forests, which are mostly dominated by tigers. Lack of quick solutions from the government has resulted residents devising their own methods of curbing these conflicts. The most common techniques used include Guarding of crops and livestock at night and creation of scarecrows. Some people have gone to the extent of poisoning the leopards. Work CitedAthreya, Vidya.,Odden, Morten.,Linell, C. D. John, Krishnaswamy, Jagdish & Karanth, Ullas.

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