City needs more lessons to avoid man-animal conflicts

A team from Mumbaikars for SGNP, biologist Nikit Surve from Wildlife Con Society-India along with Forest Department officials held an awareness session for residents of Garden View building on Sunday

A residential housing society in Dindoshi got a lesson on man-animal conflict management after a leopard was spotted on its premises. A report in this paper stated how surveillance cameras picked up images of the big cat in the parking lot, after which it disappeared exiting via a gate on the premises.

A team educated residents about the ecological balance at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park since the building is located on the park's periphery. Forest department officials, Wildlife Society members and SGNP-allied people conducted the session.

The team praised the overall hygiene level at the building and the absence of stray dogs in the compound. There were stray dogs immediately outside though and these are certainly a lure as easy prey for animals.

It is important that buildings in the park's vicinity arrange such sessions and even more important that residents attend them. One often sees co-operative housing society committees arrange sessions for members, whether it be fire compliance awareness or other issues, but members could not be bothered to attend. Robust interaction at these meetings could surely be enlightening and even be a life-saver in some instances as wisdom gleaned here can help in the rare occurrence of actually coming across a leopard.

There are so many reports about campers in the West, the USA and Canada stating how lessons they had learnt in pre-camping briefing ensured they survived, when they sighted or were in proximity to bear in certain camping areas and on hiking trails.

While Mumbai and this example may seem many miles away, at the heart of it is animal-human encounters. More sessions will ensure safety, especially of little children, who are more vulnerable. Learn to co-exist and let the experts tell you how.