The two big cats of India, leopard and tiger, have no where to go. They are increasing coming into conflict with people. To see a large leopard wandering through the streets of a city in India looks crazy and it drives the people crazy. Although I have seen men showing off in trying to kill a leopard. It is a chance to be macho. Some leopards are not that large. The one in the photo is very large.
There is nothing good about this. It is a complete failure for leopard and people. The leopard is sometimes surrounded and beaten to death by a large crowd. Horrible and unnecessary. It just should not happen. There is no longer a place in India for the once populous leopard. It is the same old story: human population expands and takes up a bit more of the leopard’s habitat. The leopard’s prey is gradually killed off by people and so the leopard begins to encroach into areas populated by people where it is totally incompatible with them and completely out of place. The leopard is a cunning predator and it can kill a person if desperate enough.
There are other stories about big cats clashing with people at the same time. These are two headlines of 24th Feb 2014:
- Tiger kills its 10th person in six weeks while evading hunters on its trail in India
- ‘Man-eater’: Officials hunting killer tiger after seven people die in attacks in northern India
Where will it all end? There is only one outcome, which is a dead certainty – no more leopards in the wild in India. It will take time but the time will come. Humans are just totally unable to manage the planet so that we can live in “harmony” with other species. The word “harmony” makes me laugh, so far from it are we.
My thanks to Marc for find the picture which is credited AP/Getty Images but I believe it to be in the public domain.
And that photo that Marc found from his research is the one that is going up on my Pinterest boards and elsewhere. Thanks for this article, Michael.
What Mr. Furtado says hits home so hard. He has written about this before, and it motivated me to do more research into their plight, as well as the Bengal tiger (all tigers of every subspecies, est. fewer than 3,500 left in the wild) and many other big cat species. I encourage all readers to do their research on the where’s and why’s, and pin on Pinterest, tweet on Twitter, and post where ever is most practical.
It breaks my heart to see this magnificent loner out there, so vulnerable. He is especially vulnerable because of his size. I feel for him, tremendously.
As a Indian myself it seems the human population explosion and rapid de-forestation is slowly driving many animal populations to extinction in India.In 2014 the city of Mumbai has the highest human density/sq Km in the World and its a miracle that the “Sanjay Gandhi Park” situated in the city’s suburbs still has a wild leopard population.Small miracles do happen and similarly hope that future generations reverses the de-forestation trend and restores Indian wild-life to a healthy population. The preservation of the “Asiatic Lion” in the Gir forests of Gujarat is one of the World’s most successful conservation projects, a well managed and maintained national park that has saved the Asiatic lion from total extinction.
This is just horrible it breaks my heart. I agree surely someone could take them in even if they go to a santuary or something. 🙁
Dee, ‘why’ – just simply because no one cares. No one taught to be respectful to animals at a proper level. Living in certain conditions pushes you think about things far from animal welfare and freedom. It’s not to say certain individuals don’t have heart into it, it’s the whole picture that plays a role. I hope this will start changing until it’s too late… for animals. xx
Good grief! I knew I should’nt have read this.
They have no place to go? WHY?
CREATE A PLACE!
Leave the kitties alone!