Big Cats in Our Backyards: Persistence of Large Carnivores in a Human Dominated Landscape in India

Abstract

Protected areas are extremely important for the long term viability of biodiversity in a densely populated country like India where land is a scarce resource. However, protected areas cover only 5% of the land area in India and in the case of large carnivores that range widely, human use landscapes will function as important habitats required for gene flow to occur between protected areas. In this study, we used photographic capture recapture analysis to assess the density of large carnivores in a human-dominated agricultural landscape with density >300 people/km2 in western Maharashtra, India. We found evidence of a wide suite of wild carnivores inhabiting a cropland landscape devoid of wilderness and wild herbivore prey. Furthermore, the large carnivores; leopard (Panthera pardus) and striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) occurred at relatively high density of 4.8±1.2 (sd) adults/100 km2 and 5.03±1.3 (sd) adults/100 km2 respectively. This situation has never been reported before where 10 large carnivores/100 km2 are sharing space with dense human populations in a completely modified landscape. Human attacks by leopards were rare despite a potentially volatile situation considering that the leopard has been involved in serious conflict, including human deaths in adjoining areas. The results of our work push the frontiers of our understanding of the adaptability of both, humans and wildlife to each other’s presence. The results also highlight the urgent need to shift from a PA centric to a landscape level conservation approach, where issues are more complex, and the potential for conflict is also very high. It also highlights the need for a serious rethink of conservation policy, law and practice where the current management focus is restricted to wildlife inside Protected Areas.

Triage of Conservation Needs: The Juxtaposition of Conflict Mitigation and Connectivity Considerations in Heterogeneous, Human-Dominated Landscapes

“…To meet the habitat requirements of such species, many of which are endangered, conservation programs are increasingly expanding their scale of focus from individual protected areas to heterogeneous landscapes (Sanderson et al, 2002;Wikramanayake et al, 2004). Such a landscape-scale conservation strategy hinges on the use of human land-uses by wildlife (Athreya et al, 2013;Goswami et al, 2014a), but the cooccurrence of large mammal species and people can often lead to negative interactions and conflict between them (NaughtonTreves, 1998; Woodroffe et al, 2005;Goswami et al, 2014b).…”

The Influence of People’s Practices and Beliefs on Conservation: A Case Study on Human-Carnivore Relationships from the Multiple Use Buffer Zone of the Panna Tiger Reserve, India

“…Va- Lions reportedly move more frequently into areas where feral cattle occur. Yirga et al (2012) also report a similar case of hyenas adapting to human food sources and coexisting alongside people in Ethiopia, and Athreya et al (2013) report of leopards adapting and thriving in large swaths of sugarcane fields with no natural forests in the vicinity, in Maharashtra state of India. The researchers suggest that large carnivores in Panna buffer zone too are displaying similar adaptability to living in the buffer zone by taking advantage of the prevailing human conditions such as, low direct retaliation by people, lenient livestock management practices and readily available food sources in the buffer zone.…”

“…This is because large carnivores are known to attack people, create economic losses through predation on livestock, in some situations they are culturally undesirable, and some species also trigger fear within people (Athreya et al 2013;Chapron et al 2014;Goodale et al 2015). People are known to respond to these physical and psychological threats by retaliating on carnivores and carnivore conservation promoters.…”

<b>Occurrence and conservation of the Indian Leopard (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae: <I>Panthera pardus</I>) in Cox’s Bazar District of Bangladesh</b>

“…A few small to medium height trees are present at the Bairuntali and Garjania, while Jummapara is totally covered with thick undergrowth of Lantana camara and other invasive species. Athreya et al (2013) studied the presence of the leopard in human dominated areas in India and found the evidence of the adaptation of the carnivores in a cropland landscape which is devoid of any wild herbivore. It has also the ability to adapt to an extremely human modified landscape (Odden et al 2014).…”