Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The two most pressing human-wildlife confl ict situations that plague India today involve
elephants and leopards. India holds the largest number of Asian elephants (
Elephas maximus
) in the
world, but these creatures have lost much of their habitat and severe fragmentation has led to
the destruction of corridors which they also use to move between fragments. Only 24% of corridors
are under complete cover, and only 22.8% are without human settlements (Venkataraman 2005).
Elephants cause damage to crops worth crores (i.e., tens of millions) of Indian rupees (Rs), and they
are linked to the deaths of > 200 persons annually (Sukumar 1991). Elephants wander into human
settlements, destroy crops, raid food stores, damage man-made structures, and occasionally injure or
kill people in the process (Sarma and Easa 2006; Report 2009b). The eighth meeting of the steering
committee of Project Elephant reported that 2 116 human deaths had been due to elephant encounters
between 1991 and 2001. Elephants also face a threat from poaching (for tusks), but for this purpose,
poachers usually resort to fi rearms rather than poisoning.
Attacks on humans by large carnivores have been attributed primarily to six species: tigers,
lions, leopards, Himalayan black bears (
Ursus thibetanus
), sloth bears (
Melursus ursinus
) and
wolves (Athreya, Thakur, Chaudhuri et al. 2004). With the exception of the leopard, all of these
species are restricted within their habitats. The leopard is however more versatile (among these wild
carnivores) and can adapt to diverse conditions. It is often observed within the core and in the buffer
zones surrounding Protected Areas and Managed Forests. It can even survive in sugar cane planta-
tions. It can tolerate human presence (to a point), and there have been several incidences where
leopards have preyed on livestock, dogs, children and even adult humans. For further informa-
tion on this, the reader is referred to Choudhury, Ali, Mubashir et al.
(2008), where 73 attacks on
humans involving leopards and 157 cases involving black bear are documented within the State of
Jammu and Kashmir (in north western India). This article also discusses the circumstances and out-
come of all 230 cases individually, although no information regarding retaliation through poisoning
is provided. The Energy and Resource Institute and Uttar Pradesh Forest Development (TERI-
UPFD) project annual report describes several types of confl icts including those involving elephant,
wild boars (
Sus scrofa
) and monkeys causing damage to crops. They also note tiger-human and
leopard-human confl icts in different parts of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand) State. Leopards have
apparently killed 140 humans between 1988 and 2002 within the district of Pauri Garhrwal alone
(Report 2003b).
A
Times
magazine article posted on 15 August 2004 estimated that between 30 and 40 people are
killed annually by tigers in India. It also described another interesting confl ict in the high mountains
of Ladakh (a region in Jammu and Kashmir) between snow leopard (
Uncia uncia
) and pashmina goats
(genus
Capra
) reared for their valuable fi bres. Goat herders keep the animals outside at night in the
cold to promote the development of soft thick hair, which is highly prized worldwide. However this
practice makes it easy for the snow leopard to prey on them. Killing 20 or more animals at a time
was apparently not uncommon, and a rather unbelievable record number was given as 107 (in same
Times
magazine article). Naturally, this killing frenzy by the snow leopards earns the displeasure of
the goat herders (Sheikh, Rabgais and Ganai 2008). In a study that spanned two and a half years,
Namgail, Fox and Bhatnagar (2007) estimated that snow leopards were responsible for about 38%
of total livestock loss due to predation, primarily of domestic goats.
In the Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh State in northeast India, Ayyadurai and
Varma (2003) recorded that a confl ict involved wild dogs (
Cuon alpines
) and mithun (
Bos gaurus
frontalis
). The mithun (a semi-wild bovid) was regularly preyed upon by wild dogs which hunt in
packs with great effi ciency. The reason cited for this predation was a poor natural prey base for the
wild dogs (Ayyadurai and Varma 2003).
Other confrontations involve crop damage by Sambar deer (
Cervus unicolor
), Indian gaur (a
type of wild cattle,
Bos gaurus
), nilghai (a type of antelope,
Boselaphus tragocamelus
), peacocks
(
Pavo
sp.) and monkeys like macaques (
Macaca
sp.) and langurs (
Semnopithecus
sp.) (Figure 4.2).
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