An early morning message (image via Ganesh Puri, District Forest Office) a couple of days ago telling of a dead leopard found in Lamjung came as no surprise. It's another incident in an ongoing situation. Cause of death was unknown and due to the location a full post mortem was not possible. It was a young cat, two to three years old and sometimes because of lack of resources it's not possible to ascertain if the fatality is the result of a conflict situation.
Anyone who reads these blogs knows that human - leopard conflict is an every day occurrence here in South Asia. Information coming through is constant, at @WildTigerNews (www.twitter.com/wildtigernews) we've just tweeted "Leopard Fear Spreads In Valparai And Kundadam Villages" which is a typical situation. WildTiger tries to verify this type of news as much as possible so we don't tweet everything that ends up in media. It irks that some orgs do, even though many of them are not even on the same continent.
Sensationalism can ignore truth.
Saying that though does not dilute the problem. Misreporting is often due to a lack of understanding of leopard behaviour and these marginalized cats, just like the scenarios for many of the marginalized people living among them, are victims of a lack of knowledge which in itself can result in spreading more fear.
Some facts are indisputable though. The deaths of over thirty people in yet another awful bus accident tragedy yesterday in Kavre, a high leopard conflict area we've got case studies in, was sobering. It was one of two accidents yesterday, four people died in Baitadi. This sort of news comes through a lot along with the endless dramas at this time of the year, monsoon means floods and landslides, tragic for people and wildlife.
Nepal's tough terrain and climatic conditions combined with political and economic woes means an often deadly cocktail. A young Nepali spending time on a training course in South India messaged me last night telling how surprised she is at how much more developed India is than Nepal. I wrote back that it was positive she can now make the comparison, it shows what is possible. Sush Maa, with her fighting spirit as always, wrote back how much she wants to help things improve here.
When the image of the dead leopard in Lamjung came through I could not help feel it was representative of a nation's struggles. I'm attuned to this type of news, it's part of the gig and shortly I'm back in a zone where several children have been taken by leopards. The sad thing about that is that once again, it's the marginalized who suffer the most. I'll keep banging on about it but we're in a holding situation until issues such as poverty are truly addressed. Until then, the images, the conflicts, the tragedies will keep rolling on.
I wonder when the world will wake up...
