- 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
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.
-
- Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753
&e=6&u=/nm/20040705/sc_nm/india_leopard_killings_dc
|
