4 leopards in 4 days......The Lansdowne Maneater

[zaheer.bakshi]

Leopard on its final journey to freedom...RIP

[GNV]

[prashantsingh]

So in 4 days we came across 4 leopards.

3rd March....Captured and Released

5th March .....Maneater Shot
another captured and released.

6th March ...... Failed operation. A beautiful leopard shot.
Only wish it had worked out better.

The death of the big male troubled me for days.
The only consolation perhaps was that MY TEAM refrained from taking a shot at him.

[SMJ]

What a heart wrenching and sad end to the story

[aadhaulya]

But I would still say that a job well done.

Atul

[essdee1972]

Prashantji, you made me cry with the last part.

Mob mentality is the same. I have seen videos of similar occurrences. The fear in the eyes of the leopards is palpable. While the humans (so called intelligent species) are hell bent on causing as much pain to an innocent creature as they can, without getting hurt themselves. At least this crowd didn't try a Taliban-style execution by chucking stones at the poor creature!

[airgun_novice]

Dear Prashantsingh & the Team,

Your commitment towards human safety is certainly laudable. But more commendable is your passion towards life - be it human or leopards'. Many journalists and self-proclaimed wild life crusaders in their blatant attempt to get their names and photos in print fail to understand why such dangers need to be put down.

I love wild life. I love tigers and lions and just about everything they show on Discovery or Animal Planet. However, I am pretty sure I love them as long as they stay there. I will not risk my life to study them in the wild. I will not risk my life to be in the area where their conversion to "man-eating" status has taken place. And I speak the truth - many such howlers don't even have the guts to acknowledge the truth, much less look the Truth in eye.

I have read your accounts where in you have simply left the confines of safety of hearth and home and ventured out with trained professionals simply to blend in with nature and get a better understanding of the problem at hand. I have read how you studied each and every cat against set parameters to determine whether the cat in front fits the profile of a man-eater. I have read and understood the discretion followed in determining beyond any reasonable doubt; how you and your team has given benefit of doubt to the big cats and only when bereft of any chance of possibility of error, you have chosen to dispatch in most humane way possible.

I believe it's high time the journalists and crusaders are given "projects" based not only on their grounding in language but also logic. They must be notified in no uncertain terms that they have been given a responsibility not just any byte-time. And if they can not understand this simple fact then it's a rather long shot to hope that they understand what you guys do and the manner in which you do what you do. What for them are simply projects and TRP boosters are in fact parasitic siphon-offs from your passionate commitment to the society and the wild life. The efforts, the planning and the tenacity that goes into identifying and hunting a single man-eater is way beyond scope of multi-media graduates whose greatest discovery is probably that MS Excel comes along with MS Word. Our beloved lte President Shri. APJ Abdul Kalam had extolled this fourth column to refrain from yellow journalism and sensationalising headlines that show India and Indian society in bad light and instead focus on individual efforts towards betterment of life. In such cases, the fourth column has proven that it has since crumbled under the weight of its own lies. Nothing much needs to be said about them.

Protecting wild life is not an easy job; protecting human life is harder. A few can protect wild life; fewer still, the human. No denying that humans have encroached into "their" space, but it's "ours" too. No denying that we are a life-form too. Living in cities does not stop rock pigeons from excreting into my house and spreading the disease so what's the guarantee that increase in natural prey base in forests will stop the big cats from seeking easier and weaker prey in villages and hamlets ? Nature decrees the fittest to survive (Nature red in tooth n claw; the Word's Nature's Law) and yet the humans adopt reason and push in efforts to conserve & preserve even potential threats. So what if weeds are uprooted lest the rest survive ?

Having voiced my 2 cents worth of thoughts (in slightly detailed version) above, all I can say and hope is that you guys continue studiously and judiciously the good service. Be safe. Be sound. And bear in mind always - Discretion is better part of valour. Good Luck.

regs
A.

[prashantsingh]

airgun novice.......Thanks for penning your thoughts. Really appreciate it.. Very well written.


Man eating has always taken place.
Even in Corbett , with a very healthy prey base and the highest density of tigers in the world. The famous trio of Dhitu Sheru and Lame Dame made big news some decades ago. One of them even killed a famous ornithologist Mr David Hunt. But these big cats turned bold due to over exposure to humans.
In recent years a couple of forest guards have fallen prey to tigers in Ranthambore
The tigers in Sundarbans have had human flesh on their menu for ages.
Leopards and tigers turning man eater in my state has always been there.
Panar And Rudraprayag were made household names internationally by Jim Corbett.

What troubles me today is the increase frequency of maneating . The conflict is at its highest. Too many Leopards turning man eater in too many places.My point is that if there is a healthy prey base within the forests. At least the incidence of man eating will reduce drastically.

An ideal example is Dehradun. Where one hardly heard of maneating before 2010. Ever since the town was declared a state capital maneating has increased. loss of habitat. colonisation and expansion of the small sleepy town.......and in last 5 years we have had 4 maneaters.
I have recently written an article for a wildlife journal. Will put it up here once it is published