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BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
COMMENTARY
“Leopard mauls 11 in India then dies of knife wounds:” So went the story of Tuesday’s attack by, and then on, a leopard in India. That was the newsworthy event, as seen by the media. The human media, that is.
If there were such a thing as “the big cat media” – which of course there isn’t – it would have reported that villagers again intruded in the ever-shrinking habitat of leopards. And this time, a leopard fought back.
No humans were killed in the encounter and the leopard went down fighting – all of which was predictable.
According to the AP account, the “snarling adult, male leopard leapt at locals and forest officials as they tried to drive it back toward a wildlife sanctuary in West Bengal state,” and villagers used “knives, stones and batons to beat back the cat.”
A PBS “Nature” program last year described how leopards survive in these days of dwindling habitats, predation by poachers and their own population’s diminishing numbers.
Particularly adaptable, leopards have learned of necessity to live in or near towns and cities; in India, for instance, they’re much more adaptable than lions and tigers, according to the program.Described as “the perfect predator,” the “clever” leopard – though slower than the cheetah and weaker than the lion – hunts with his/her wits, as “Nature” reported. Usually nocturnal, leopards are shy and private, and careful killers. That they also eat a wider range of prey than all other predators in the world is another aid in their survival.
The Australian.com quoted the head of India’s Wildlife Protection Society, Belinda Wright, who described risks to prey species as the big problem of the future. Wright cited poaching and thinning forests caused by wood collection as reasons for their disappearance.
Although leopards are a highly protected species in India, Wright indicated they’ve been forced to hunt, mate and live on the edge of – even within – “human settlements, including in drains and under houses.”
What a life for a wild animal.
Freelance writer Pat Summers also blogs at www.AnimalBeat.blogspot.com.
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