Muhammad Atif Aleem
It’s not very uncommon in the whole mountainous region of Galiyat in northern Pakistan that in the middle of any sleeping night a sudden hue and cry raises from somewhere. Someone shouts in the local Potohari accent:
“Pakro cheetah maari bakri legia je” (Help, the leopard has taken away my goat.)
The hysterical shouting awakes the whole village from slumber and every adult male taking anything in hand in the name of arms, instinctively, runs after the unseen beast. Usually, the much clever beast manages to escape, but sometimes she is caught and killed mercilessly.
Every villager living in the middle of the picture has his own haunting tails to tell that involves only one perpetrator: The Common Leopard.
No matter how shy and elusive she is, the leopard, over a time, has been a nightmare for the whole region because of her usual livestock depredation in the human settlements on the outskirt of the forests. Despite living with a vague and rather confused identity, she remains vividly alive in the myths and memories of the people with whom she shares the same landscape, the same heritage, and the same cycle of life.
Gone are the days when there was no conflict between humans and leopards. Knitted into the same fine fabric of nature, both creatures belonged to each other. The local population was thin, the pressure on the jungle resources was within limits and the local communities had well-defined rights to use these resources. Moreover, despite their dependence on natural resources, the people were careful enough to maintain a perfect equilibrium between human needs and forest resources.
During the gentle summer evenings, the fumes of smoke emitting from the nearby houses in the area remind us of the century’s old relationship based on coexistence and harmony between humans and their non-human neighbors. But, within a few past decades the chronic human greed, gross mismanagement, instinctive callousness, and increasing pressure of the human population on the forests have ruined the subtlety of these relationships.
The historical records reveal that before the Colonial era the region was rich with an immense variety of fauna and flora. Then, it was an echoing jungle with a diversity of wildlife. A great range of big animals could also be found there. Even lions, tigers, and cheetahs were not uncommon in the vegetation of Galliat and its surroundings. Now all have gone with the wind and we are left with only the common leopards that also are on the verge of extinction in the unprotected areas of the region.
Normally found at a high altitude, leopards are the most adaptable predators with very flexible food choices. What she requires: a reasonable prey base in her territory, sufficient home range, and an appropriate forest cover for hunting and survival. But, despite their adaptability, the leopard population in parts of its natural habitat is declining due to the scarcity of the mentioned elements.
The Ayubia National Park in Galiyat as a national park offers safety and conservation to the carnivore, but its 3312 hectares area has proven insufficient for their well-being. Similar is the case with the Lasora National Park in Azad Kashmir region.
With the rapid growth in the human population, the use and misuse of forest resources have increased tremendously even deep inside the protected forests. There are some known threats to the ecosystem and the wildlife in the Ayubia National Park. Among such threats is an ever-rising mountain of litter being spread by the tourists and the hotel owners alike, illegal grazing, collecting fodder from deep inside the forest, woodcutting, and illegal cultivation by the local communities. But the most serious threat to the whole chemistry of the area is nothing but human greed.
The whole area is witnessing an unprecedented wave of ill-planned development, mainly aiming to serve the vested interests of many influential people. The trees are being cut and burnt ruthlessly as well as the land is being acquired for the construction of new residential colonies, road networks, and cultivation purposes. By courtesy of ineffective management of the local administration the illegal activities of timber and builder mafias are going unchecked. That all is contributing to deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation and also is causing a further retreat of the fauna from its natural habitats.
The effect of the above-mentioned causes is an unending conflict between humans and the leopards. Few monkeys and mammals are in the jungle and many domestic animals are there in the villages. Therefore, why only jungle, why not human settlements? Obliged with an easy choice, the trapped and starved beast spreads her home range to the extent of the nearby villages to satiate her hunger. And, when a predator finds its way to a much easy domesticated prey, she starts her dependence on it.
The human-leopard conflict is characterized by the ever-increasing rate of livestock depredation and a frequent sighting of the leopard in the surrounding villages. Although the nature and intensity of the conflict vary from protected to non-protected areas.
The poor people by no means can afford the predation of leopards on their livestock because that’s mainly what they have. Most of them depend heavily on it for their sustenance and income. Eventually, the depredation is turned into retaliating killing of the poor beast.
The angry and frightened people try to kill her in retaliation to save their livestock as well as their own lives. Any attack on humans or their livestock naturally leads to an eradication campaign that ends up with the killing of the predator.
But, the picture has another side too. Contrary to the general impression, Galliyat leopards are normally friendly animals, they do predate on animals but seldom attack humans. Since 1989, 16 men have either been killed or injured in and around the Ayubia National Park, while in the same period 44 leopards have been killed either in self-defense or in retaliation.
A wave of retaliatory killing by humans started when in July 2005 one or more leopards killed five women collecting wood on the periphery of the Ayub National Park. The very next year, another woman lost her life in the same manner. These unfortunate incidences changed the mind of local people forever and made them hostile toward the predator.
Now the questions are; where does the actual problem lie? Is a severe conflict between the two species sharing the same landscape and heritage inevitable? Is retaliatory killing the only and just answer to the problem? If not, then what? Reflecting on the other side of the picture, we have to deal with some more questions: should we turn a blind eye to the very genuine problems of the local communities? And shouldn’t we stand against that exclusive development that is ruining the prospects of coexistence and natural harmony in the area on the one hand and further marginalizing the already suppressed local communities on the other hand?
The common leopard is one of the most precious national assets we have in our jungles. A sizeable population of the leopards can help us in promoting our fragile tourism. Instead of shooting this magnificent creature, we have to revive the lost relationship of coexistence between man and leopard. So that man and wildlife can thrive together in the same green lap of nature. Only an all-inclusive conservation strategy is the answer to the above questions. A strategy that can ensure the active participation of the locals in any development process and empower them to bring change in their lives. We can solve not a single problem without getting rid of that patronage style of politics which allows some people to predate freely on the well-being of many others.
So, dear leopards start praying for the prevalence of rationality in your human neighbors because it is the only way of your survival.
Muhammad Atif Aleem is a Rawalpindi based fiction writer and a nature lover. He may be contacted at: matifaliem@gmail.com
