When Asa eats a low
constant growl tells me my presence is not required, well to put it more
bluntly, this is leopard speak for “f... off” and when a leopard indicates this
to you, it is best to take his or her advice.
The same goes with any big cat in the wild. When I had an encounter with a young tiger
cub last year, the showing of teeth and narrowing of eyes conveyed a similar
message. At the time my dominant thought
was wondering about the proximity of the young tiger’s mother. Just give them their space, it’s not rocket
science.
Anyone who thinks this thing in the jungle with the leopard
and me is one of those stories about man and beast having hugs with the music
to Born Free in the background, well, sorry, you’ve got the wrong blog. I’m sure you can still find that sort of
stuff somewhere in cyberworld, you know, the tanned guy with the flowing long
locks walking through the forest with his faithful, strong big cat. But this, it’s more like me freezing my butt
off with a leopard who sometimes wants to bite my face off.
In the image you see Asa taking a cold drink on one the icy
mornings recently here in the Himalaya.
In fact, this was on the morning as described in the last post when the
leopard and I went higher up into the mountain jungle and found sign of another
leopard. In the post I pondered if maybe
Asa has a potential mate in the area we separated in. I really don’t know yet, time and effort to
find out will tell.
Asa and I crossed
paths again just over two days later he seemed really pleased to see me.
Then he realized I had food for him in my backpack.
At that point the whole dynamic changed. Karate kicks ensued as I had to fight Asa
off as he tried to rip the pack from me.
Believe me, being attacked by a
big cat isn’t funny. Try and imagine
what it is like being a long way from help with an animal which one minute is
grooming you and then the next is as angry and aggressive as all hell. The music isn’t Born Free.
I’ve learnt to manage these situations, thankful for martial
arts training, kicks and punches obligatory when Asa gets really feisty. From this point on I’m going to be employing
a new tactic which I thought up a while ago but have saved to be the last (I
hope) resort. I’ll describe it in more
detail once I know it works (I hope) but basically it will involve doing food
drops, finding Asa and leading him to them.
Safety improved, I hope. Overall
it’s matter of being wary, and yeah, let the animal have space. The jungle is their domain.
This tactic will also allow me to slowly lead Asa into the
area that will be best suited according to all my research (about a billion
hours) given the circumstances the leopard and I have found ourselves in. Once again, best to write/talk about this
once it’s underway rather than start patting myself on the back because it is
far from a done deal that Asa will stay in the area, the decision on that in
conjunction with the local human community is about two months away.
Asa’s behaviour when food is around is normal. This is about an animal born wild, with wild
instincts surviving in the wild. It is
not about hugs. Neither of us hold any
remorse after these altercations. We
have a strong bond, we do what we do. A
predator does not feel guilt, it cannot afford to. Nor can I.
I have to do what is required to ensure my own survival while at the
same time do my very best by an animal and a project I have made a commitment
to. As I’ve written before the jungle is
all about eating and trying not to be eaten.
Time to inject another “I hope”...
There will be a lot more details in my book of how this part
of things works with Asa and me.
Leopards are solitary but not asocial so Asa’s interaction with me
fulfils a need for the young leopard. I
am sure I will be surplus to requirements when he his urge to be with his own
species takes over. This is of course
the way it should be. He is still much
too young to breed so any meetings with the female leopard in the area may or
may not go well. Please don’t get mushy
about this. I’ve had several discussions
of late about people’s interpretations, they range between mushiness and
fear. The reality is something in
between, as I’ve written many times, respect.
This is the message that the young must get, the correct
interpretation. My kids get it, they
understand. I just ask that others think
about this.
Anyway, speaking of health and safety I’m writing this from
further up the valley where I’m sorting out a camera trap situation as well as
talking to friends about how we can get a Health Post in Chhomrong.
Poverty really pisses me off. Economic stability and ecological integrity
go hand in hand now on this planet pretty much dominated by us. The Government of Nepal doesn’t have much
money. The policy at the moment is one
Health Post to each VDC (Village District Committee). A VDC is basically a region, there are 75 of
them spread over a national population approaching thirty million.
Do the maths. It’s
not good.
Many of the existing Health Posts are woefully under
resourced.
Conservation in this part of the world is very much about
the human relationship to the environment, habitat and wildlife. Community conservation means village people
looking after their backyard, a great responsibility and of course the
fundamental human right to have reasonable health care in these mountain
regions cannot be ignored.
So yeah, action. This
isn’t a “I hope”... it’s very much a “I will”... There's a couple of microscopes available, a room, we can combine resources for wildlife research as well, there is momentum now, I'll have more info on this soon.
In two day's time I have a decent trek back to Leopard Camp and then
beyond. Once again, maybe I’ll encounter
the young leopard, maybe I wont, let’s see...
Thanks for your support as always, it is appreciated. Just don’t get too mushy ok, keep it real, he’s a leopard.
:)
Cheers Jack.
