Tumakuru forest officials have struck upon a novel idea to protect villagers in Kunigal, Tumakuru and Gubbi taluks of the district from leopard attacks. They distributed reflective jackets to around 1,000 villagers to ensure their safety. This comes after Tumakuru reported five human mauling cases from October 2019 to December 2020, including an attack on a boy in Kunigal on new year’s eve. However, the move has been questioned by villagers and wildlife activists.
Girish, the Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Tumakuru division, explained that reflective jackets, which are coloured bright orange, would help leopards differentiate between prey and others.
A source said that the boy could survive the attack only after some villagers noticed and screamed to scare away the leopard. By then, the leopard had bitten the boy’s neck and he has been hospitalised.
Several leopard mauling incidents have been recorded in Tumakuru, including an attack that killed a three-year-old girl on February 29 last year. In another incident, Bhagya (35) was grazing goats in a field in Manikuppe when she was attacked by a leopard. Her body was later found under a bush. An old woman, Lakshamma, was killed by a leopard in Bannikuppe village in October 2019 followed by Anandaiah in Doddamaralawadi. Five-year-old Samarth Gowda fell victim to a leopard attack in Kunigal taluk in January 2020.
Camera trapped image of a leopard in Kunigal, Tumakuru
DCF Girish said, “Forest officials struck upon the idea after deliberations to tackle human-leopard encounters. This is for the first time that such an experiment has been undertaken to mitigate the conflict situation.”
Often, villagers, especially shepherds, graze their animals in hillocks and abandoned agricultural fields, which provide a safe refuge for leopards. The colours of the clothing worn by the villagers might blend in with the thick vegetative growth and when the person makes a movement, a waiting leopard might pounce mistaking them to be its natural prey. But the reflective jackets will make it easier to distinguish its prey, said forest officials engaged in the distribution task.
While handing out the reflective jackets, forest officials are making it a point to advise villagers to compulsorily wear the jackets, especially during the evening hours to protect themselves from leopard strikes. Even students and shepherds are provided these reflective jackets, which are also made available at an affordable cost to villagers in the vicinity who feel it necessary to safeguard themselves from leopard attacks.
However, Kumar, a resident of Bannikuppe where a leopard mauled a woman, said he did not think the reflective jackets would serve any purpose. Leopard attacks have occurred even on persons who were wearing dark-coloured clothes, he said.
Bengaluru-based wildlife advisor Sanjeev Pednekar said that for a leopard, a reflective jacket is just another piece of fabric, and stressed on creating awareness among villagers to mitigate conflicts.
The DCF said that the distribution of reflective jackets to villagers is being done on an experimental basis. Apart from this initiative, four leopards have been trapped in cages and shifted from the region.
Meanwhile, villagers have understood that abandoned agricultural fields and eucalyptus plantations over hillocks provide shelter for leopards, increasing the human-animal encounters in the region. Villagers are clearing thick vegetative growth so that leopards do not take cover close to human habitations.
Girisha is a freelancer who writes on wildlife and forests.