Here in
Nepal there are earthquake ravaged areas where people are freezing in tents or
worse, so more and more trees get cut down in leopard territory. On the Terai, like the rest of the country the blockade has meant gas
shortages, more and more trees are cut down in tiger territory...
I said to
Judy from WWF yesterday there are so many dots to join. The word mosaic came to mind and then last
night I came across this image of the mosaic tiger I had created years ago, it fits my thinking
right now.
There’s
been days lately when I wish I’d chosen an easier path, maybe rocket science,
surely not as complex as this situation.
The last few years have shown me more than ever that it’s all going to
get even more complicated regarding the way we can co-exist with big cats. Veteran Nepali conservationist Dr Shant Raj Jnawali said to me
yesterday that he felt that 80% of serious rescue and conflict situations were
leopard related. When you consider that
every year people also lose their lives in conflict with tiger, elephant and
rhino, well, that 80% is a big figure.
What is an
answer today may not be the answer tomorrow.
In that regard we have to try and stay one step ahead, not an easy task
in a country which is struggling in so many ways. My help has been asked for in another country
where tiger is the main conflict species and the animal itself is struggling to
exist. I will visit there in a few
months in the hope that what we are seeking to apply here may help as well as
learning from that locality. And that’s
the thing, every region has its own set of issues but one commonality with
Asian big cat habitat is that the people living there are generally
struggling... back to my point in the first two sentences.
Poverty
leading to poaching and then development leading to habitat encroachment... add
to that the issues of big cat rescue, rehabilitation and rewilding, each highly
complex in themselves. Academics,
activists and keyboard warriors can jump up and down as much as they like but believe
me at ground level it’s not rocket science, it’s something much more complex
with the lives of people and wildlife at stake...
