Mumbai's 'Urban Leopards' And The Growing Human-Animal Conflict: What Went Wrong?

On the night of November 6, a man was attacked by a leopard, in Mumbai's Aarey colony, leaving him with minor injuries.

The attack happened close to the spot where a toddler was killed by a leopard nearly two weeks ago.

Following the killing of the toddler, the Forest Department had trapped two leopards, which they suspected to be behind the attack.

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Leopard sightings and attacks in Aarey

But yet another attack on humans has once again raked up features that there are more 'dangerous' leopards out there.

In fact, in recent times the number of reported leopard sightings and attacks in and around Aarey has increased with undesirable consequences for both sides.

For many, the sudden spike in leopard attacks is a matter of concern and there is an argument that the leopard behavior has changed.

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Mumbai has more leopards than it can handle

That is because the leopards of Mumbai's Aarey and Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) have always co-existed peacefully with humans, including the Adivasis who consider them Gods.

The big cats are often referred to as 'urban leopards' as they live in a forest that is within a bustling metropolis, which is a rare phenomenon.

But infrastructure projects that often cut through their habitat and the ever-increasing human population have made the situation uncomfortable for both sides.

"SGNP and Aarey combined are home to more than 40 big cats, which is the highest density of leopards anywhere in the world. There is one leopard in every 2-3 sq kms, which is very high. This is an artificially high number that is not plateauing yet. Leopards of Aarey and SGNP keep on moving between the two locations," wildlife biologist Anand Pendharkar said.

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Fragmented habitat increase conflict

Over the past few decades, parts of SGNP and Aarey have been diverted for different projects. This has resulted in the fragmentation of the leopard habitat.

Unlike other big cats, leopards are highly adaptive to their environment and will eat anything from a mouse to a Sambar deer to survive.

One of the many reasons, Pendharkar said is helping the high leopard population to survive is the dumping of waste by humans.

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"The waste dumps attract feral dogs, pigs, and other small animals that feed on them. These animals are also food for leopards. And that is how the high population of leopards is surviving and continues to grow. Given the area SGNP, it should only have around 20 leopards," he said.

Important to know the reason for attacks in humans

Pendharkar also pointed out that the leopards have become a lot more stressed, due to internal conflicts, loss of territory and increasing human presence, which could spill over human-leopard conflict.

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"Like humans, the leopards could also be nursing a past trauma from their childhood and that could affect an individual's behaviour. Only if we are able to trace its movement pattern and history, we can pinpoint the reason why that individual is attacking humans," he said.

Overlapping of leopard territory

Last year, the Forest Department, Wildlife Conservation Society and Wildlife SOS had launched an initiative under which leopards were radio-collared to study their movement pattern, which experts believe will shed more light on their behavioral patterns.

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"Radio-collar and camera-trap information is very critical in studying their behaviour and learning who are the other individuals they are interacting with. So far we have seen that 3-4 individuals are covering the area of each other, overlapping the territories," he said.

Capture problem leopard if needed

Following the recent attacks on humans, the Forest Department has trapped several leopards and those deemed unsafe have been kept in captivity, where they will spend the rest of their lives. Environmentalists have long opposed the capture and relocation of leopards arguing that if it continues their population in the wild will be wiped out in a few years.

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Pendharkar, however, said that removing the problem leopard from the area is the only solution to end the conflict.

"If a leopard is killing people and it needs to be taken out and put in a zoo, so be it. Because it is better to give up on one leopard that injured eight people than to lose 40 big cats," he said.

Despite the recent 'increase' in leopard attacks, which has terrorised the residents, Pendharkar said such incidents as very less, when compared to their population.

"It is amazing that with 40 leopards, and 15-20 million people we are having a very low number of conflicts. It is an issue that is hugely blown out of proportion," he said.

How to reduce the human-leopard conflict

According to him the following are some of the steps that can be implemented to reduce the human-leopard conflict.

• Leave the forest area as it is, and no more construction activity should be allowed in SGNP.
• Improve the connectivity between SGNP and Aarey.
• Restore the forest and improve its quality.
• Waste management is very important and the dumping of garbage should be ended.
• Control the population of dogs and feral pigs.
• Create awareness among the people about living with leopards.

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