There's a positive update at the bottom of this post which is also at Facebook (along with other posts not shown on this blog page) if you wish to comment.
Poverty sucks, it really does. You see, it's so often people living in unsafe conditions who suffer the most tragic losses in conflict with wild animals. Then who can blame them for retaliating?
The hardest question I have to ask when a child is taken by a leopard is how long before the cries and screams of the little one stop. I'm not going to go into details here, out of respect for victim's loved ones but in so many instances the leopard could not be located straight after the incident because the family, neighbours, the community in general do not have decent torchlight.
Three times of late when elephants have been in very close proximity, in the act of smashing buildings or close jungle encounters, we've shown that powerful light, preferably more than one good torch, can deter the powerful tuskers. There are no guarantees with any mitigation strategy, as I've written before it has to be a multi pronged approach but the key is having the right tools available. Even strong light won't drive elephants away from a distance but a powerful beam directed at the eyes can work when the animal is dangerously close.
As part of everything within the structure of the Leopard Task Force I'm going to make sure there is funding for good quality torches.. A big thanks to Bernd for the ones he has supplied from Germany. Sometimes this whole thing makes me shake my head, just wondering what could be achieved if the world worked better. A colleague in Africa wrote the same thing to me, he has been researching how much funding in the conservation sector is wasted on airfares and meetings. Imagine how many torches could already be out there... then lives are saved and retaliation is reduced...
LIFE SAVING PHONES ON THEIR WAY... Well may Manju (Anjel) smile, I've just messaged her that the incredible Bernd has collected over 80 phones in Germany so we are now pledged over 100. This is fantastic, a big boost for the program. Manju will coordinate it at community level here on the western Terai as part of the 'Living with Leopards' program and work in with Nirajanand the Rapid Response Team particularly in regard to the coexistence challenges we have here with elephants. Those of you who follow my posts will know we already have the first SMS early warning system in operation. I will be focusing more on the leopard issues mainly in the middle hills where there are serious challenges for both people and these "spotted tigers". These phones make a difference and there has been a couple of messages re torches since my post this morning. The key to all this is having dedicated, trustworthy people, that means a lot to me... #progress.
LIFE SAVING PHONES ON THEIR WAY... Well may Manju (Anjel) smile, I've just messaged her that the incredible Bernd has collected over 80 phones in Germany so we are now pledged over 100. This is fantastic, a big boost for the program. Manju will coordinate it at community level here on the western Terai as part of the 'Living with Leopards' program and work in with Nirajanand the Rapid Response Team particularly in regard to the coexistence challenges we have here with elephants. Those of you who follow my posts will know we already have the first SMS early warning system in operation. I will be focusing more on the leopard issues mainly in the middle hills where there are serious challenges for both people and these "spotted tigers". These phones make a difference and there has been a couple of messages re torches since my post this morning. The key to all this is having dedicated, trustworthy people, that means a lot to me... #progress.
