Need more funding, scientific solutions to handle leopard attacks: Officials

CHENNAI: The latest victim of man-animal conflict was a 3-year-old girl who was mauled to death by a leopard prowling in Gudalur division of Mudumalai.

While there is no recent tiger attack in the State, a healthy population of leopards in south India, particularly TN, is now snowballing into an issue giving foresters sleepless nights.

“Foresters and conservationists across India find it difficult to understand the behaviour of leopards, as these are highly adaptive creatures. Whether it’s Valparai, Gudalur or Masinagudi, villagers should be extra cautious about their children in the forest areas,” said a senior official with the State Forest Department.

Some victims are children of guest workers in tea estates, which is why awareness on leopard attacks is need-of-the-hour. “Managing such conflicts is more complex, and we need more funds and scientific solutions,” the official said.

Just two months ago there was a similar attack in Valparai, where a leopard mauled a 7-year-old boy, again a son of a tea estate worker. “Luckily, the boy was safeguarded by onlookers and the leopard gave up the hunt,” the official recalled.

Last week, the State government doubled the compensation paid for loss of human life or permanent incapacitation caused due to man-animal conflicts in the State to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 5 lakh. It had come into immediate effect, but it’s not a permanent solution. “The government had also created a corpus of Rs10 crore to enable speedy disbursement of the compensation claims, but we need long-term scientific approach to evolve a fool-proof solution,” opined the official.

With wildlife being pushed to the corner of villages and towns, the conflict will only keep increasing in the days to come. “Some of our students frequently monitor the conflict zones and a major reason is habitat destruction and growing of pet dogs that attract leopards,” opined Professor B Ramakrishnan, HoD-Wildlife Biology, Government Arts College, Ooty.

Ramakrishnan also insisted on more awareness on wildlife attacks and sensitisation of the public on the do’s and don’ts inside the forest fringes and core tiger habitats. “In the case of tribes, the conflict mortality is negligible. In most cases, it’s the tea estate workers or those who are non-tribes settled near forest settlements,” he pointed out.

Even without sighting an elephant or leopard, the tribes can sense the animal from a distance. They do have sharp ears helping them to avert wildlife encounters. But in the case of non-tribes it’s different, and tourists are the most vulnerable lot, the professor added.

“The State Forest Department often takes proactive measures like early warning systems, radio collaring of wild elephants and other conflict animals for real-time monitoring. Camera traps, AI-based alerts and thermal imaging are embedded into wildlife management, but this is not enough to handle growing conflicts,” warns conservation scientist A Kumaraguru, who is also a member of Sathyamangalam Tiger Conservation Authority.

He averred that conflict zones should be earmarked and a few leopards and tigers should be micro-chipped for monitoring and analysing their behaviour.

“Tamil Nadu should also create more biologists who are trained in animal behaviours and foresters trained in jungle skills to address the shortcomings in the days to come,” Kumaraguru said. “Training of staff on wildlife conflicts and educating the public in conflict zones are two key areas that should be strengthened. Eco-tourism concept should be re-evaluated as it might affect the quality of forests and spike man-animal conflicts.”