Wild Leopards on Human Killing Spree in Bombay
- Reuters
By Jayashree Lengade
BOMBAY (Reuters) - As rampant population growth blurs the divide between city and countryside, it appears man is not even safe from nature's predators in the middle of the world's fifth-largest metropolis.
Leopards have killed 14 people this year, and 10 last month alone, in Bombay -- a city unique in that it almost entirely surrounds a verdant forest.
On Sunday night an 18-year-old was dragged from the hut where he slept and a 50-year-old priest was mauled near a temple on the outskirts of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a 40-square-mile forest in the northern part of India's financial capital.
"This is a conservation disaster. We have to study why the animal is coming out. It never came out before," said J.C. Daniel, 73, former director of the Bombay Natural History Society who has tracked forest fauna for 40 years.
Only last year, a 4-year-old boy was killed when a leopard scaled the wall of a housing complex and dragged him away while he was playing in the garden.
The leopard problem goes to the heart of a debate about population growth and expansion in a metropolis that the United Nations (news - web sites) says is home to more than 16 million people.
Environmentalists blame a shortage of prey in the forest, which forces an estimated 35 leopards living in an area 30 times the size of New York's Central Park to hunt in the city.
Bombay's national park is within just a few miles of several factories and the epicenter of its huge Bollywood movie industry.
And in a solution that could be out of a film script, officials plan to start releasing around 500 pigs and dozens of rabbits in the forest in the hopes that will satisfy the hunger of the big cats.
For more than two years, leopards have hunted dogs, cats and even poultry raised by tribal groups living on the park's edge. But it is the attacks on humans that grab the city's attention.
Daniel noted Californians face a similar problem with cougars, though recorded attacks are few and tend to occur near sparsely populated suburbs and not in crowded urban spaces.
EASY PREY
A tribal man's body was recently found mutilated outside the hut where he slept, while a 55-year-old lawyer was mauled during a morning walk in the deep jungle.
The forest's 100-odd ancient Buddhist caves and stone carvings are a big tourist attraction and its scenic hills are popular with trekkers, even though large parts remain off-limits.
"Villagers move in with buffalos, chicken, fowl and their pets. Naturally they become easy prey," said Ashok Khot, senior forest secretary for the western state of Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital.
"The problem lies with people, they are stepping into the land that belongs to animals," Khot said, blaming encroachments by both rich and poor in posh high-rises and slums near the park.
It is illegal to kill leopards, an endangered species in Africa and Asia often hunted for their spotted fur.
So wildlife experts wearing armor and helmets keep a close watch on the forest edge, while rangers have set up nearly two dozen cages at strategic places to trap and relocate the animals.
One member of a team of rangers was badly injured, though not killed, by a leopard on Monday. Later that evening, rangers trapped three leopards believed to have killed people. Officials say they suspect there could be many more on the prowl.
"We cannot say the problem is over yet. We will continue with our combing operations," said S.W. Upasane, an officer at the forest's control room.
People living near the forest are no less nervous. At dusk they set off fire-crackers to scare animals in bushes. They have also set up bright lights and only leave their homes in groups. |
