A Glimmer of Hope

Hello friends, a particular piece of news published in The Times of India, Kolkata edition, got me into contemplation mode.Though the news do not have high profile people in it, but the relevance is never the less. It’s about some tribal villages of Purulia district of West Bengal, India, concerning man and animal conflict. I will tell you first about the incident occurred in 2015, when the tribal villagers captured a loepard, strayed into their village. The animal was mercilessly clobbered to death in front of cops and its mutilated caracass was hung from a tree.

The interesting part is that another loepard have been continuously spotted in the area, bordering Kotshila forest range. Despite the loss of their livestock, the villagers have resolved to protect the big cat. It’s indeed a paradigm shift of collective behavior, that may go a long way in curbing a man animal conflict to a large extent.

A resident of Simni village, Mokli Murmu, who collects wood from the forest and sell it at a market 15 km away for Rs 160 per 10 kg, said, “We are the ones encroaching on wildlife habitat in search of livelihood and not the other way round. The leopard has killed five calves raised by me but I still don’t want it to be killed or harmed.”

The leopard has already fed on at least a dozen of cattles and in the latest spotting the leapard was found moving around with a cub.The chief wildlife warden Debal Roy is arranging to make public announcement not to panic and attack the animal like the last time. He maintains that if the animal has survived for nearly two years, it’s likely that residents have become aware of wildlife conservation. The chief warden also added that if a loepard has a cub there it means that it doesn’t feel threatened.

Friends, even simple villagers mostly not very literate people can value the importance of life and don’t inflict harm on a wild carnivore in spite of incurring losses of livestock, then why some leaders of the world are hell bent on killing and displacing so many innocent living beings. The madness must stop atonce for the welfare of mankind.

We must learn to live peacefully. If the leaders can show geuine sincerity they must find a diplomatic solution to the problem of Russia, Ukraine conflict. With deft handling the situation can be salvaged from further catastrophes.

We common mortals can only pray for peacful coexistence of all. Wish you all health happiness and prosperity.
Adieu for now.