A challenging vigil in a fractured world
As the lives of leopards become increasingly more difficult, the need to understand them is becoming more urgent. DNA analysis can be a huge help in this regard.
In the image you can see the leopard we call Chombu walk along a jeep track in mid afternoon. I’ve been spending the last few days cross checking data, Chombu did not follow the road all the way to the three houses nearby, a place which saw a fatal attack last August. We’ve had early warning system tech in that area, I have a gut feeling which route Chombu took that day but of course cannot be certain, these animals are like ghosts, even in broad daylight.
Attacks on children in several places in north India and western Nepal, several leopard body parts seizures, orphaned cubs, that is just the last few weeks - I brace myself every time my phone goes beep. It’s impossible to really understand the scale of serious incidents taking place in the human - leopard relationship in South Asia but every report needs to be examined, there can be vital clues as to how to mitigate further conflict.
I’ve written before how the initiatives to mitigate conflict must come from our side, the big cat is simply doing its best to survive on a planet where its previous natural habitat is totally fractured, in fact the leopard now has the existence of a challenging vigil in a fractured world. Chombu’s life is testament to that. In going over thousands of images there are pointers as to which leopard may have been involved in a fatality, the death of a child a few days ago, around two hours walk from where you see Chombu in the image.
Our early warning system tech (LeopardEye) is more and more helping to create safety but when things do go wrong, there needs to be much more proof about which leopard is involved. Pattern recognition using the spots on a leopard can give information as to whereabouts but the only one hundred percent proof of ID method when there is an attack is genetic analysis. I’ve been involved in cases where this has been used and should have been used. Many ‘innocent’ leopards die in conflict areas, I’ve gone into these scenarios in previous writing and as I mentioned in the previous Substack I’m now reaching out in an effort to see how we can get increased implementation of genetic analysis because if we don’t, there’s going to be no let up in what we are up against in this coexistence struggle.
Resources are lacking as it is and adding the expensive process of DNA examination means the need for people to understand that the help required is more urgent than ever. Combatting illegal wildlife trade is also a motivation for more use of genetics, the planned piece which is a deep dive into wildlife crime is not far away, I’ve just got so much on my plate at the moment. That Substack will include more detail on genetic analysis among the words around solutions.
A short post today, again I thank those involved today, to finish I just ask that you look at Chombu in the image, imagine a life where you are a tiny minority in a world dominated by two legged creatures, where food options are limited but where you just want to do what nature designed, just be a leopard.
Some American politicians have irresponsibly suggested that endangered animals in the U.S. should be allowed to go extinct because they falsely claim to have "successfully cloned" a dire wolf. This is not only misleading, but it also reflects a shocking misunderstanding of science. This is the level of ignorance we are facing in a so-called first-world country! The UK exhibits a similar mindset. People constantly overreact when we attempt to reintroduce certain raptors, insisting that "they'll eat all our sheep and game birds." It's unacceptable that any carnivore larger than a fox is not tolerated in these discussions. We need to challenge these misconceptions and advocate for a more informed approach to wildlife conservation.