Hunters appointed to hunt man-eating leopards

[full_circle]

I tried searching, but could not get any further update... has the man-eating leopard been accounted for?

[prashantsingh]

Looking for a maneating leopard in the hills is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The tough terrain and cold weather adds to the difficulties for the hunter. It's never easy to get them. It is not like you go to the place where the maneater made his last kill and you will find him there. The animal may be far far away, knowing fully well that armed village folks would be coming soon to look for the remains of the kill. Infact in many cases leopards who take to humans on a regular basis make sure they move away as soon as possible. They are like opportunists who may go back to their normal diet and once the opportunity arises pick up another human.
One look at a half eaten body of a man/woman/child is enough to change opinions of a number of "conservationists". Unlike an animal bait , human kills are normally recovered and cremated.
Reminds me of a story I heard from a "govt. appointed hunter", some years ago, who was tracking a big old maneating leopard in some remote place in Kumaon. The leopard had killed and eaten 23 children from a village school which had a total strength of 45 over a few years. Finally the school had to be shut down. The unique thing about this leopard was that once he had, had his fill he would leave the carcass and never come back to feed on it again.This made it very difficult to gun him down. He was finally identified by his pugmarks and shot more by chance than anything else. His luck had probably run out and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In my career as a dentist the most fascinating case I have had is that of a young woman mauled by a Himalayan Bear. She was out collecting wood from the jungles when this Black bear attacked her. She was knocked unconsious and was saved by the other women who were nearby and came to her rescue. It took more than 300 stiches on her scalp and face to stop the bleeding . Half her face and an eyeball were mutilated beyond repair. I saw her after a month of the incident when she was fit enough to come to Dehradun. Her complain was that she could not open her mouth. The X ray showed a fractured Tempromandibular joint , angle of the mandible and the zygomatic arch on the same side.

[shooter]

another link:

http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=11557

[gajamacho]

Kill Kasab first before killing the poor dumb animals.

We Indians are so stupid .

[prashantsingh]

Seems like yesterday when people living in Mussoorie had bears and leopards walking in the backyards. Not more than 20 years ago.
Today it's a different story. Like anywhere else in India.

I have hope for the leopard. It's a beautiful and a versatile animal. More versatile than any other big cat on this planet.

Went to Landour today....3 kms from Mussoorie.
Looks like the Leopard is making a comeback.
Cheers.

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Loved this one.
"Leopards on Patrol.
*Donations of Human protein accepted."

[abhrankash]

Seems like yesterday when people living in Mussoorie had bears and leopards walking in the backyards. Not more than 20 years ago.
Today it's a different story. Like anywhere else in India.

I have hope for the leopard. It's a beautiful and a versatile animal. More versatile than any other big cat on this planet.

Went to Landour today....3 kms from Mussoorie.
Looks like the Leopard is making a comeback.
Cheers.

---------------------------------------------------------

Loved this one.
"Leopards on Patrol.
*Donations of Human protein accepted."

good one !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do admire this man who has done this !!!!!!!!!!!

[OverUnderPump]

Unabated encroachment of forest land has lead to this situation. Be it for Agriculture, Real Estate, Mining, Industry you name it. In a human-population choked country like ours very few 'really wild' regions with the exception of the 'Sunderbans' actually remain. So, where does an apex predator go for grub.....McDonalds or KFC ? That however doesn’t justify the death of a human being and neither does it justify the animal being culled as a result. That said, hunters are NOT responsible for the current state of affairs of wildlife in India. And any rants against hunters or hunting in India is like

Since 'Hunting' in its actual definition is banned in India, let’s consider the poaching angle to be also responsible for the decline of the big cats. Poachers and Hunters are poles apart needless to say.

So, what's to be done against poachers ?
One of the much vaunted ideas is for increased funding of the Forest and Wildlife department, so that it can gear up against them and prevent poaching. Thats a great idea, but look at the budget allocations given to wildlife-conservation across the last 2-3 budgets, it would show us the true picture. I was associated with 'Aaranyak' in Assam during my school days(late 80's-early 90's) and Rhino Conservation was at the fore. On visiting Kaziranga, the forest guards expressed their inability to tackle poachers who would operate under the cover of darkness and quickly vanish without a trace across the porous North Eastern Border to Bhutan etc. Same was the case with Manas National Park which is on the Indo Bhutan border. Add to that the pressure of expanding population in the 'buffer zones' and you'll get the picture.

The terrain in Kaziranga is mostly wetland; covered with Elephant grass. Ideally monitoring such an area effectively would require equipment such as 'night vision devices', Helicopters, Hovercrafts,(I am delusional am I not) or Rubber Dinghys with powerful outboard motors(there might be some present, but not quite enough), not to mention highly trained personnel (the current lot are doing their best with the meagre resources they have). I won’t even get started on the weapons they are supposed to carry. Providing funds for all of this would require quite some resolve and drive at the governmental level, but unfortunately thats not where the 'focus' is on at the moment and won’t be in the near future (the outlook hasn't changed from my school days).
Another case in point, look at the Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary (Bharatpur) of which I wrote about some time ago, it has been transformed into a cattle ranch. More Cows than Cuckoo's inhabit the park. I believe 'Swarovksi' had pumped in some money to save this 'World Heritage Site', but to no avail, as you would be able to make out from the pictures in my post. The wetlands have degraded, several species of birds have struck this off their 'migratory route' as I was told by a forest official.

By the way: "Grazing of cattle was banned in the park way back in the 80’s" which led to violence after the local farmer's objected. That more than any hunter has spelt doom for this park. The water which used to fill the wetlands has been stopped at the source: Arjan-Band, on the pretext that the water is required for agriculture which is a load of manure as there’s enough to go around. There always was enough water over all these years, why the sudden shortage, despite good monsoons. Ah, the free grazing grounds; they would be flooded wont they. Flooded grazing grounds are no good for cattle. No wonder there’s no political will to get this done.

A friend of mine who is an avian-addict and visits the park every year from the UK had started his own crusade to improve the lot of the birds on another forum ‘Indiamike’(a forum frequented by international tourists)but to no avail.

Hunter or no-Hunter, as long as unregulated forest-land encroachment continues(which it will)and the 'focus' of the powers that be are inside their pocket linings, big cats, elephants and wildlife in general will suffer and we will see many more Sariska's and Keoladeo’s. The worst is yet to come.

regards

OUP

[shooter]

That said, hunters are NOT responsible for the current state of affairs of wildlife in India. And any rants against hunters or hunting in India is like

Since 'Hunting' in its actual definition is banned in India, let’s consider the poaching angle to be also responsible for the decline of the big cats. Poachers and Hunters are poles apart needless to say.

Plus the rest too.


well said