Leopards around Mumbai?

[Mark]

Don't tell me you have the Disney crowd over there too!

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?S ... 5456-4454r


Wild leopards to roam outskirts of Mumbai

MUMBAI, India, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Authorities in India are planning to release 47 captive leopards back into the wild -- just outside the country's largest city.

The Independent reported that the leopards are to be released on the outskirts of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, home to more than 16 million people. The reason for the leopard release, the Independent reported, is that Mumbai has grown to surround a national park where the wild cats once thrived. Once the city began to encroach upon the park, the leopards were known to attack and even kill citizens. In one month, the cats killed 12 people.

Authorities rounded up the leopards in 2004. But the federal environment ministry in New Delhi recently ordered the release of the cats back into the wild.

[mundaire]

Mark,

Mumbai has a national park bang in the middle of it's (heavily populated) northern suburbs. It's called the Sanjay Gandhi Borivilli National Park. The leopards from there have been known to stray frequently into populated areas, lift stray dogs etc. While I was in Mumbai (2001-02), I made one trip there and was appalled to see that there were several slum clusters (squatters) within the park boundary!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[TC]

The Maharashtra wildlife department had plans to set up electric fence all around the park. This was officially announced after the killings...that included some children.
Wonder what happened after that.

TC

[Sakobav]

Thats true, many years ago I had research project at NITIE Bombay - on shores of Lake Powai and was staying at IIT Bombay campus with my cousin. the whole campus looked like a campus simply put in jungle and saw asign beware "Sher Singh was seen with his kids.." didnt quite get it, but was informed its not the warden but the Leopard.

rgds

[Vikram]

And at one time, they, in their astounding wisdom, wanted to release stray dogs in the national park as prey for the leopards. Either way it was an inhumane and impracticable idea. Dogs hunt in packs and probbaly would have decimated the leopards. Fortunately, in this case, the protests by ecologists and animal rights groups made them stop it.

Best-
Vikram

[Nan]

There is ONE leopard in Georgia . It was found and photographed in Khevsureti - North East Georgia. Before Noah (so was the leopard named ) another one was found and sadly killed in 1954. The site is in Georgian only but you can take a look at the Georgian Noah

http://www.nacres.org/g_leopardi.html

[shooter]

i wonder if stray dogs can hunt in packs.

leopards wandering into cities has become very common in many indian cities in last 5 yrs. this is not due to an increase in population but because so much forest cover has been lost/ population of natural prey depleted that they stray into cities to kill dogs, donkeys.

another small minority are those released from 'farm houses' of celebrities when police began crackdown following finding blackbucks in salman khans , 'farm house'

this is a very disturbing trend as this rich people pay a lot of money to acquire a leopard and in some cases (heresay) even tigers. for their 'farmhouses.'

I have seen at least 2 leopards in a very famous indian movie stars farm house. (this was around 10 yrs ago when he was being interviewed in his farmgouse with cheetal and leopards(in chains) in full view of camera.)
there was an article about wild animals in vip/ias/politicians/rich ppls Farmhouses (it centered around delhi) in times of india around 5 yrs ago

[Grumpy]

Yes, stray dogs will form packs. In circumstances where dogs are allowed to roam during the day but are brought in at night they will even form and reform those packs on a daily basis.
Being part of pack is a basic, fundamental - and absolutely normal - instinct for a dog and they will form one as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Leopards, being solitary animals, would have little chance against a pack of dogs - they might be able to climb trees to temporararily escape but would have to come down eventually.

[shooter]

lots of stray dogs in india and they do form packs.
but ive never seen them hunt in packs. they always scavange rubbish whereas on the indian streets there are so many stray animals of all sizes to hunt.
they fight in packs, chase outsiders in packs.
ive seen them kill other animals in packs but not for hunting/eating but just as a reasult of a fight gone too far. they have never exhibited the techniques exhibited by hunting dog packs like exhausting the enemy, hamstringing etc.

one thing i know for a fact and one common feature about all shikar stories, whether my family or other people, young or old, tiger or leopard, stray dogs or tame or 'shikari' dogs kept by some tribals, whether the dog has ever seen a big cat or not, is the tremendous fear they have of the big cats, alive or dead, not just the sight but even the smell.
i have read stories of loyal dogs facing a leopard etc, i dont say they arent true, maybe the dogs were trained. but for every such story, i have heard 5 or more where 'untrained' (tame/stray) dogs, have run away from just the presence (?smell) of a big cat (even a dead tiger).

[Yaj]

I have heard of packs of mixed breed dogs hunting Nilgai which venture into farms in the Abohar region of Punjab.Apparently they do it quite often and with practised ease.I have seen the dogs and they certainly looked well fed
Regards,
Yaj.

[Grumpy]

Some British zoos do good business selling Lion and Tiger crap for people to spread around the edges of their gardens because it`s supposed to deter Foxes and domestic cats from entering. Note that Foxes are solitary animal unless they have young which might be relevent.
Dogs acting with great bravery in defending their owners is classic transference behaviour. The dog is acting to defend its substitute pack - in the wild this would make sense as it is defending its specific gene pool. If there is one animal whose behaviour is constantly anthropomorphised and misunderstood it is the domestic dog.
Have you ever seen film of African Hunting dogs harassing a Cheetah or Leopard that has just brought down prey. Unless there is a tree nearby that the Leopard can drag the carcase up into the Hunting dog pack will always get the carcase eventually. Constant harrassment will eventually drive the big Cat away. No solitary animal can defend itself against continual attacks from a pack. Hunting Dog and Wolf packs share one ability with humans: In the pursuit of an individual prey animal the Dogs/Wolves will wear down and catch that prey animal because of its total exhaustion. Endurance - the ability to constantly trail an animal - is not an ability given to many species. Even at walking pace a prey animal will eventually collapse from exhaustion. That applies even during migrations - cattle/deer/Antelopes spend a great deal of their time grazing, some sleeping and a little in actually travelling. Wolf and Hunting Dogs packs ( and humans ) routinely catch and kill animals far larger than themselves. A necessary ability because unless there are vast humbers of small, easily caught, prey animals available they are not worth the expenditure of energy required. A pack requires a great deal of food which is most economically supplied by large prey.

[shooter]

indeed i have seen videos of dogs in africa vs leopards/ cheetahs.
even seen many of lioness vs hyenas.
i was fortunate enough to witness a jackal pack chasing cheetal herd- zeroing in on a hind, through grassland and stream in rathambore (luckily for the hind, they were not successful)
wild dogs/ wolves/hyena packs etc are extremely efficient killing machines.

no contest. i agree with each and every point. i was just wondering (not challenging) whether it applied to stray dogs.

i also agree with endurance thing. we hav seen the kalahari bushmen videos, seen lion pride bring down an elephant, exhaust antelopes.

in my village two people still alive who could exhaust and catch hares. and when one wondered at their stamina, they would innocently reply (rough translation):

when it is very hot in summer noon (temp around 46 C) keep running after a hare till it gets tired!!!

yaj you will be amused to know my labrador is very good at stalking and killing doves without any training.

[Grumpy]

In a Labrador that`s considered perverted behaviour by shooting types and dog breeders.
Don`t, for goodness sake, take the dog rough or driven bird shooting with you..........That would REALLY make you unpopular !
Of course the animals behaviour is perfectly normal but it`s a trait that`s supposed to be bred out of gun dogs.

[shooter]

the dog, sumo, is in india and is solely intended as a companion as my family loves dogs.

[Vikram]

Dhol or the wild dogs of India were known to kill Tigers sometime and during the Raj, rewards were given for shooting them.Interestingly,as far as I know, they were never known to attack humans. My late maternal grandfather told me of one such dog they tried to keep as a pet which just never became one and died soon.

When I was a kid there were these two street dogs that started killing animals around.Once, we saw them kill a donkey.That's it.They both were taken that day .

I have seen a black & white film wherein a shikari stands still and shoots a lion charging towards him chased by a couple of dogs.An utterly pitiable sight to see a Lion chased by dogs.You can debate my sentiments but that's how I feel.

Best-
Vikram