Joseph Hoover:
A Mysuru farmer ensured the safety of leopard cubs that should warm the cockles of one’s heart in times of rising human-wildlife conflict in Karnataka. The leopard cubs are barely two weeks old.
Shivakumar, a farmer of Nerale village took it upon himself to ensure the safety of two leopard cubs found in his fields at H D Kote taluk, adjoining Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Mysuru district. A mother leopard was part of Shivakumar’s farm ecosystem for the past four years.
The last few months, we have been fretting over the death of three farmers and tigers being captured in succession and in a frenzy in both Bandipur Tiger Reserve and in the vicinity of Nagarhole Tiger Reserve which has been a setback to tiger conservation in Karnataka.
This is a wonderful story of human coexistence with wildlife, wherein the leopard safeguarded Shivakumar’s crops from wild boars, and Shivakumar allowed the leopard to live within his farmland for four years.
Shivakumar dissuaded the Karnataka forest staff from taking away the cubs from his sugarcane field. The farmer is glad that the mother leopard later carried her two cubs to safety within the adjoining forest landscape.
“The mother leopard has been part of our family for four years and has been residing in our agricultural field for so long. It never troubled us, though we would come face-to-face often in the corn and sugarcane fields. It saved my corn and sugarcane crops from wild boars,” says Shivakumar.
The farmer further adds, “Two weeks back, she gave birth to two cubs which had been roaming around safe and secure. Though Forest staff wanted to take the cubs away, I insisted that they leave them undisturbed until their mother took them to the adjoining forest. I am delighted that the mother leopard has safely taken both the cubs away.”
Glad that we could post a positive story on conservation from the tiger and leopard landscape of Karnataka, India in a long while.