The human population density is low, 110 persons per km2 (Census 2011, data accessed on June 2018) with the local inhabitants of Pauri district predominantly agrarian with other major occupations being horticulture, livestock farming and cottage industries [23]. Turner intends to file a lawsuit against Poggi, the owner of the leopard, his lawyer told Local 10 News. The Big Cats! S. Sathyakumar, In late August, Dwight Turner paid $150 to get inside a cage with a black leopard at a house in Florida. There has been an increase in severity of human-wildlife conflicts in India in the last few decades with tiger (Panthera tigris), Common leopard (Panthera pardus) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) being the three most problematic species reported to cause extensive damage to human lives, livestock and property. Beta-coefficient values of predictor variables of best model, Pauri. Majority of the respondents within both study sites cited decline in wild prey as the primary driver of human-leopard conflicts and we are planning to undertake assessment of prey base soon. The rare events regression procedure estimates the model as standard logistic regression with the output estimates corrected for the bias that occurs when the sample is small or the observed events rare. and visual assessment of the economic condition of the interviewee. Based on our field surveys (N = 43), 28% and 30% of the incidents in Pauri were recorded between 0900h and 1200h and 1500h to 1800h respectively (χ2 = 76.94, df = 7, p-value < 0.05). livestock for food [49,50]. Knowledge gained through such studies in human-dominated landscapes help solve complex conservation problems such as human-wildlife conflicts [6–12], where apart from the dynamics of such events, a thorough understanding of the social aspects of conflicts are essential for implementing further mitigation measures [13–19]. Fifty percent of the respondents in Pauri and 52% of the respondents in North Bengal stated that decline of wild prey was primary reason for leopard attack on humans followed by 24% and 27% who believed that easy availability of domestic prey i.e. Majority of the victims were working in small scattered groups of < 2 persons when leopard attacked them in tea estates. Majority of respondents 89% felt that leopard attacks on humans in Pauri were intentional without being provoked, whereas 76% of the people in North Bengal opined that leopard attacks were accidental and in self-defense. On the contrary, in North Bengal, 43% were illiterate followed by 33% who didn’t complete secondary education, 22% who completed secondary education and only 2% having completed graduation. Fifty-eight percent of these victims were males and rest females. Cheetahs rarely attack humans. Based on our field surveys, 37% and 39% of leopard attacks were documented between 0900h to 1200h and 1200h to 1500h respectively (χ2 = 151.29, df = 7, p-value < 0.05). This research was undertaken to investigate the ecological aspects of human killing and injury, spatial characteristic and pattern of such sites, temporal and seasonal trends of attacks and perception of … We thank the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Chief Wildlife Wardens of Uttarakhand and West Bengal for granting permission for research in Pauri Garhwal and North Bengal respectively. Compared to the 1990’s when there were only 121 leopard attacks in 4 years in North Bengal it has increased substantially to 805 in the last 13 years between 2004–2016. While an extensive protected area (PA) network and land allotted for agricultural production were cited as two major reasons [1], the real cause of escalation of conflicts in the recent years has been attributed to habitat loss, fragmentation, degradation due to increasing anthropogenic pressures, particularly development, reducing tolerance levels to wildlife, and local abundance of problem species [2]. Kody Antle’s family runs a charity that purports to raise money for wild tiger conservation; Poggi describes his business as an animal sanctuary (legitimate sanctuaries typically do not allow public contact with wild animals, according to the Global Federation for Animal Sanctuaries). Cancellare, Speiran, and Stein all say that the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a bill that aims to federally prohibit commercial breeding, public handling, and ownership of big cats as pets, could make a difference in curbing big cat ownership and backyard breeding in the U.S., protecting animals and people alike. Animal breeder Michael Poggi keeps his black leopard in this cage in the backyard of his Florida home. It has a forest cover of 64% with the area under moderate dense forest being almost 2000 km2, followed by scrublands and open forests [31]. The incident took place at Kinhi village in the district’s Ashti taluka on Friday afternoon. Dipanjan Naha, The livestock density of this region is 58 per km2 (Livestock Census, 2012). Though it is believed that education broadens people’s perspective [67] and poverty, low literacy, meagre income shape negative perception towards carnivores as with tiger in Sundarban [68] our results suggest otherwise. On July 12, 1940, in Maloalmaatinsk gorge near Almaty, a rabid snow leopard attacked two men during the day and inflicted serious injuries on both. Comparison of parameters within the two sites Pauri Garhwal and North Bengal. Florida leopard attack put humans—and big cats—in a terrible situation Online videos from roadside zoo owners create the false impression that it’s safe to play-fight with adult big cats. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- About 97% of the leopard attacks in North Bengal and 60% of the leopard attacks in Pauri resulted in human injuries. His wife had to press a dangling flap of his scalp back in place. There’s “this Jungle Book-esque romanticism in communing with animals,” says Siobhan Speiran, a Ph.D. candidate in environmental studies at Queen’s University in Ontario, who has spent the last three years researching social media’s influence on people’s perceptions of wild animals. Florida leopard attack put humans—and big cats—in a terrible situation. Understanding how to avoid and fight back against cheetah attacks will give you a better chance of survival if one of these big cats comes for you. He’s still at risk of losing his right ear, according to a report filed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which investigated the case. It has been observed that households in Pauri Garhwal are located far away from major roads/markets and the trails, paths are usually covered with dense scrub and weed providing ideal cover for ambush predators like leopard. … Subsequently we mapped the gps locations in Arc GIS 10.2. Using this probability values conflict risk maps were prepared in Arc GIS 10.2. e0204528. The leopard, which is being traced by over a dozen teams of the forest department, along with … Attack mechanisms and lesions in victims are discussed. The average livestock density of Pauri is 58 per km2 [22] which is much lower than the 340 per km2 reported for North Bengal region [60]. The other primary reason of decline in conflicts could be the large scale out-migration of people from the hills [28] abandoning agriculture lands and households. A leopard was caught on camera attacking a forest guard in a village in Siliguri in West Bengal. A leopard and a python became embroiled in a brutal fight in the Maasai Mara in Kenya after the snake tried to eat the big cat. Even when they are cornered by herders who find them in their livestock corrals snow leopards do not try to attack. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Welfare issues at roadside zoos have been well-documented. The two study sites were stratified into 2 km2 grids using Arc GIS 10.2. The total number of deaths and injuries to leopard attacks in Pauri district have reduced to 154 between 2004 and 2016 compared to 556 reported between 1998–2005 [23]. It is a matter of scientific curiosity as to why conflicts suddenly reduced in Pauri Garhwal but there could be several reasons contributing to this significant decline. Forty-eight percent of the people in North Bengal had no knowhow of the role of leopard, 24% stated that they helped maintain ecological balance whereas 17% believed their primary role was to destroy and subdue other animals. The number of injuries to leopard attacks were much higher in North Bengal compared to Pauri Garhwal, whereas deaths to such attacks were higher in Pauri. Human killing is the decisive and most critical expression of human-leopard conflict and needs to be addressed sensitively to maintain local support for leopard conservation in India. Do Cheetahs Attack Humans? Based on the forest department records, in Pauri Garhwal, a total of 159 attacks on humans were registered between 2006 and 2016. PLoS ONE 13(10): Almost immediately, the leopard attacked, ripping his right ear in half with its teeth and tearing into his head. We are grateful to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the funding support through the National Mission of Himalayan studies. Data of covariates used for regression analysis with presence/absence information. In late August, Dwight Turner paid $150 to get inside a cage with a black leopard at a house in Florida. Since the “dawn of man”, even before you could call our ancestors “man”… the felines have hunted us, prowling our world. The predominant forest types are Northern Tropical Semi-Evergreen and Tropical Moist Deciduous forests [32]. MAN-EATERS! Pauri Garhwal is a district in Uttarakhand state and within close proximity to PAs such as Corbett and Rajaji Tiger Reserves. The incident, which took place at the home of animal dealer Michael Poggi in Davie, Florida, occurred during what was supposed to be a “full-contact experience” with the leopard, in which Turner would rub its belly and take photos with it. Pie Charts depicting site specific characteristics of leopard attacks on humans in the Indian Himalayan Region. The mean number of humans killed by leopard per year in Pauri Garhwal during this period was estimated to be 3.5 (SE 0.91). This district is part of the lesser and middle Himalaya with an altitudinal range between (200–3200 m). Annual mean precipitation and temperature data for Pauri and North Bengal were extracted from World BIOCLIM data [40]. Female leopard seals, the larger of the two sexes, can … We thank Nitin, Chandramya, Akshata, Neha and Harin for collecting data in North Bengal and Uttarakhand. Occupation wise 65% of tea estate workers in North Bengal and 70% agriculturists in Pauri disliked leopard. When attacked most of the victims were solitary or in groups comprising of <3 people. Though remedial harvesting hypothesis suggests that removal of large cats at small scale from certain sites does not necessarily suppress their densities or reduce the population and other individuals occupy the vacant territories left by the residents [45] but in Pauri female leopards being removed in majority [23], the annual growth rate of the population might have been affected. Map depicting location of study area (Pauri Garhwal) within Uttarakhand State, India. We used the results to develop recommendations for management interventions in mitigating human-leopard conflict in the IHR. In North Bengal, a total of 121 attacks on humans were registered between 1993–1997, 243 between 2001–2008 and 420 between 2011–2016. The complex issue of large-scale human outmigration from the mountains has to addressed by the local administration and sustainable livelihood opportunities has to be provided to the local communities. The structured questionnaire used was divided into three main sections viz., (i) the first section primarily dealt with the demographic details (age, gender, caste, education level, household structure etc.) She is badly injured and being treated in Upington Mediclinic hospital, South Africa. A wild black leopard rests in a tree in Nagarhole National Park, in India. In North Bengal due to accidental nature of attacks, early warning mechanism such as setting up of motion-enabled sensors with sirens/alarms in tea gardens can be initiated by forest department and the local administration. The region receives an average annual rainfall of 3160 mm with an average altitude of 200 m. The major mammalian fauna of this region are the endangered one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), Asian elephant, gaur (Bos gaurus), sambar (Rusa unicolor), chital (Axis axis), rhesus macaque (Macaca mullata) and a host of diverse fauna and flora with leopard being the apex predator and only large carnivore present [25]. Recent studies on leopard attacks on humans and livestock have been conducted [22–24] in Uttarakhand and [25,26] in North Bengal but none have compared spatio-temporal patterns and major drivers of such incidents across these sites. Federal regulations also state that barriers must exist between the public and big cats 12 weeks or older. (ii) The second part dealt with socio-economic questions pertaining to land holding, occupation and livestock owned and (iii) the final section comprised of questions regarding knowledge of leopard, human-leopard interactions, perception towards leopard conservation and suggestions for mitigating conflict. 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A total of (N = 182) respondents in Pauri and (N = 186) in North Bengal were interviewed between January 2017 and April 2018 using closed and open ended semi-structured and structured questionnaires [34,35] to assess their socio-economic condition, dependence on forest resources and attitudes towards leopard. The average human population density is 701 persons per km2 (Census 2011, http://jalpaiguri.gov.in/html/census. S1 Fig. For full functionality of this site, please enable JavaScript. Moreover, carnivore populations subjected to lethal control could have other ramifications such as i) relatively young age structure ii) lack of hunting skills in sub-adults, cubs due to removal of adult females and thus iii) increased dependence on easy prey i.e. Thus present day Pauri Garhwal, is a matrix of agriculture lands, villages/towns, scrub/secondary forests and mature forests which is best suited for leopard [23]. A total of 121 leopards were killed in Pauri Garhwal either in retaliation by local communities or declared as man-eaters and shot with a range of 2–16 per year between 1990–2005. An equal proportion of people 41% were positive and negative towards leopard in Pauri Garhwal whereas in north Bengal a majority 75% of the respondents were positive towards leopard (S3 Fig). Out of the 14 predictor variables, precipitation, temperature and altitude were ecologically significant variables in Pauri Garhwal whereas in North Bengal open forests, scrublands significantly affected leopard attacks on humans. In the western part of this region, Uttarakhand state (Pauri Garhwal) has been historically recognised for the magnitude of human-leopard conflict, when hundreds of people were killed by leopard even in the 20th century and a dozen leopards killed as man-eaters [27]. Forty-three percent of respondents in Pauri stated that there was no solution to mitigate leopard attacks on humans followed by 18% who stated that increasing compensation amount would help. Leopard attacks on … Night light data for the two sites were derived using 1000 m spatial resolution night-time visible lights data of India [41]. Non-lethal approaches such as use of wildlife deterrents and formation of Village Response Teams in conflict hotspots has to be encouraged to reduce retaliatory killings of leopard in Pauri Garhwal. In Pauri Garhwal majority of the respondents were middle aged (48 years SE 1.09) whereas for North Bengal they were slightly younger (38 years SE 1.08). Our qualitative data gathered through the questionnaire surveys are indicative of these primary social drivers listed above and further research on understanding these drivers should be undertaken in the near future. Snow Leopards virtually never attack humans—I think they're only two confirmed instances of snow leopards attacking humans, neither of which were fatal. This year, the maximum of four human deaths in leopard attacks have been recorded at Narendra Nagar forest division, followed by Almora (3), Pithoragarh (3), and Nainital (3). Approximately 58% percent of respondents were agriculturalists in Pauri whereas in North Bengal they were 46% tea estate workers by profession (S3 Fig). The logit link in a logistic regression is used to model the log-odds of an event occurring. Human-leopard conflict predictive risk map, Pauri Garhwal. Forty-one percent of respondents in Pauri and 75% in North Bengal were positive towards presence and conservation of leopard. We analyzed the conflict data using rare events model in a binary logistic regression framework to understand spatial patterns of such incidents for Pauri Garhwal and North Bengal. The margin of error in these interactions, says National Geographic Explorer Andrew Stein, founder of CLAWS Conservancy, a nonprofit focused on mitigating human-wildlife conflict, “is the difference between having a safe encounter and possibly dying.”. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Area of major vegetation types (Dense forest, Open Forest, Moderately Dense Forest, Scrubland) were derived from the 23.5 m spatial resolution forest cover map [37]. As data showed over dispersion due to excessive number of zeroes or absence locations, we fitted the rare events logistic regression using the function relogit [42] in package “zelig” in (R 3.4.0). There are 70 tea estates in this region with the recorded forest area in recent times being 46% with an area of 1700 km2 under open forests and scrublands [19]. For the present study, we did not investigate drivers of livestock depredation by leopard. Attack on humans in Pauri were recorded mostly near areas with dense scrub cover whereas in North Bengal it was reported within tea-estates. They rely on being in good condition to survive – if they get injured and are unable to hunt, leopards will die of starvation. The present study explores the nature of human-leopard conflicts and perception of local communities across the western and eastern Indian Himalayan region. This datasheet was used to record socio-economic and perception data of local communities in Pauri Garhwal and North Bengal. Based on the questionnaire surveys, average annual livestock depredation per household by leopard was estimated to be 3 in Pauri and 1 in North Bengal. Average rainfall in the district is 218 cm. “These are animals whose brains are literally designed to be ambush predators,” says Imogene Cancellare, a National Geographic Explorer and conservation biologist studying snow leopards. Studies conducted in Maharashtra [61] highlight dogs as an essential component of leopard diet in human-dominated landscapes, whereas [62] reported them to be preying on species within a range of 10–40 kg with even rodents as part of their diet [63–65]. The two study sites are spread across the western and eastern IHR Figs 1 & 2. Human footprint data was generated using the human census data 2011 (Census Data 2011.) However, attacks on humans are rare. Dwight Turner, who had pre-arranged the leopard contact experience with Poggi, was attacked by the cat almost immediately after he entered the cage. Almost immediately, the leopard attacked, ripping his right ear in half with its teeth and tearing into his head. In the mid-mountainous region of Nepal majority of leopard attacks on humans were recorded outside PAs and in the vicinity of human settlements [54]. The North Bengal landscape underwent rapid change in the 1850’s when British cleared large tracts of forests for commercial tea plantations, brought tribal people from Central India and engaged them as daily labors to work in tea gardens. He is licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an animal dealer, and he owns the leopard legally. The big cat did not harm any cattle which is a very strange behaviour, ” wildlife warden for Nanded division Atindra Katti said. Examples of aggressive behaviour, stalking and attacks have been documented. In the Terai floodplain of Nepal, most human deaths by tiger attacks occurred within a proximity of one kilometer of the forest edge because of the high intensity of human use as compared to the forest interior [58], whereas tiger attacks were mostly reported from suboptimal habitats near forest edges of Sumatra [59]. If you’re headed out on safari, though, it’s best to prepare for the worst. This can also be used for multiple categorical or continuous variables and thus following a logistic regression model by maximum likelihood we computed probability of conflict for any E = e and Z = z as follows: “There is no scenario in which entering a [space] with a big cat is going to be 100 percent safe, even if it’s been hand-raised,” she says, as the majority of big cats in roadside and backyard zoos around the country have been. This is not the first such attack to be reported from the state, where human-leopard conflict has been increasing. In the case of SGNP's leopard-human dynamics, it is important to note that in the past, leopard attacks on humans in the area have exhibited episodic peaks. “At the end of the day, in my professional opinion, there is nothing you can do to make a tiger or lion or jaguar love you enough to overcome its predatory instincts that can turn on a dime.”. S2 Fig. Leopard Seals and Humans Leopard seals are highly dangerous predators. Due to the large-scale outmigration of people from the hills few men capable of livestock herding have been observed in the villages. During the severe epidemic influenza in 1918, people of Garhwal mostly hindus disposed of human corpses in the forests and leopard being scavengers opportunistically fed on these dead bodies [27]. For this reason, adult big cat encounters are rare at U.S. roadside zoos. A comparison of major variables between the two Himalayan sites are provided as Table 6. One of them could be the large-scale killing of leopard especially females between 1990–2005 [23] by forest officials and retaliatory killing by local communities. Comparison of predictive models showing human-leopard conflict risk probability (North Bengal). In India, where the interface between forests and rural inhabitations is a continuum, the leopard has adapted to live in the fringes of human habitations. These are common marketing tactics used in the private zoo industry so customers feel like the money they’re paying to interact with wild animals is helping them. Leopard seals are apex predators presenting a potential risk to humans. G. S. Rawat, Affiliation: We thank the DFOs, ACF’s, and Range officers from the Uttarakhand and West Bengal Forest Departments for logistic and administrative support in carrying out the fieldwork. Responses from the questionnaire survey were analyzed to evaluate basic statistics regarding socio-economic well-being, primary source of livelihood and perception of people towards leopard (S1 Appendix). Comparison of socio-economic condition of respondents across the two study sites. S1 Dataset. All rights reserved. The attack is a stark reminder that big cats are dangerous to people—a reality that’s become muddled through the lens of social media. In Pauri Garhwal, precipitation, dense forests and altitude of 1500 m and beyond were significant ecological variables responsible for leopard attacks Table 4 whereas in North Bengal it was open forests, length of water bodies, streams and altitude < 1000 m Table 5. But Florida law prohibits letting a visitor have full contact with a big cat larger than 25 pounds. Copyright: © 2018 Naha et al. The local communities believed that leopard attacks in Pauri were predatory in nature whereas in North Bengal it was mostly accidental. Just last month, Doc Antle, Kody’s father and the owner of the family’s Myrtle Beach Safari roadside zoo, was charged with wildlife trafficking and animal cruelty. The primary reason cited by respondents for decline in agriculture production in Pauri region was a rise in crop depredation by wild pigs and rhesus macaques (62%) whereas rest 15% felt it was shortage of irrigation water. S4 Fig. Altitude of each grid centroid was generated from the 90 m spatial resolution digital elevation maps [39]. A new study has found that leopard attacks on humans were not common and livestock losses were much less than one would expect, especially considering the complete dependency of leopards … Though studies on brown bears and wolves in Europe have documented increased reproduction in populations with long persecution histories as compensation to loss in retaliatory killings [48] but it has not been reported in felids. Majority (76%) of the leopard attacks sites in Pauri Garhwal had medium to dense shrub cover. We recommend that community-based carnivore conflict mitigation measures be implemented immediately in Pauri region in collaboration with local administration and village communities. Rapid deforestation and human-impacts on their habitats force these large carnivores to venture into unlikely landscapes outside protected areas for prey and cover, … A family was treated as the basic unit for the purpose of this study, with only one respondent from a family being interviewed. We also inquired about the details of such incidents from family members of leopard victims, companions, local people and forest personnel who were present or had visited these sites after the attacks happened. In order to understand the nature and extent of human-leopard conflicts we compiled Forest Department wildlife damage compensation records, published literature, newspaper reports available regarding the number of human death and injuries, leopard deaths in Pauri Garhwal and North Bengal for the past 16 years (2000–2016). Some of the site-specific characteristics are provided as Table 6. Do bears attack humans? Almost immediately, the leopard attacked, ripping his right … We selected the final model based on the lowest AIC value [43]. Pauri Garhwal reported an annual growth rate of -0.13 with 122 villages abandoned completely between 2001–2011 [28]. Majority of the leopard attack victims in Pauri were children and young people, whereas in North Bengal it was middle aged tea estate workers. Nonetheless, these tourist encounters are commonplace in other countries, especially in Southeast Asia, and are normalized by many Insta-famous big cat owners, who interact with their own animals in social media videos. Leopard attacks on humans in Nepal are attributed to be a combination of decline in wild prey, scarcity of water and lack of supervised livestock herding and guarding practices in villages [54]. Though studies have been periodically conducted within PAs on certain aspects of ecology of such large mammals in India, extensive research on such aspects in regions where they share space with humans are limited [3–5]. Among the respondents interviewed in Pauri 20% were illiterate, 41% had formal education and 15% were graduates. Hunting of adult females have been reported to have important implications for the long term viability of leopard populations compared to adult males [46] due to a male biased dispersal [47]. Based on these records we visited (N = 43) sites within Pauri Garhwal and (N = 58) in North Bengal where leopard have attacked humans recently between June 2016 to October 2017. where , and are the estimated regression coefficients. This analytical procedure can be adopted in other sites to identify potential human-carnivore conflict risk zones. We conducted perception based surveys of local communities to understand social drivers of conflicts within both Pauri and North Bengal. Hand-raised big cats are still genetically wild, and they’ve been conditioned to interact with owners only as a function of being fed by them, she says. FWC charged Poggi with “allowing a member of the public full contact with an extremely dangerous full grown black leopard” and “maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe condition,” according to the police report. S3 Fig. They’re the Third Largest Seal in the World. with majority received during monsoon. We surveyed two sites i) Pauri Garhwal in the western part and ii) North Bengal (Dooars) in the eastern part of IHR, compiled secondary data on human-leopard conflict records and made field visits to (N = 101) conflict sites. Predictive maps showed central and northern regions of Pauri Garhwal as conflict risk hot spots (Fig 3) whereas for North Bengal it was the central and south western zones adjacent to PAs (Fig 4). It will be interesting to investigate population dynamics and litter size of the leopard population in Pauri Garhwal. Discover a faster, simpler path to publishing in a high-quality journal. The entire district is rugged and mountainous. In June 2004 alone, 9 people were mauled down by leopards. This study demonstrates that predation risk models can offer valuable insight into the drivers and spatial patterns of human-wildlife conflict across a landscape [72, 73]. The average number of injuries and deaths to leopard attacks in Pauri was estimated to be 11 (SE 1.13) and 3 (SE 0.6) per year between 2006–2016 whereas in North Bengal it was estimated to be 70 (SE 9.2) and 1.6 (SE 0.3) respectively between 2004–2016. The point of these animals’ existence isn’t to be snuggled by people; the point we should be driving home, she says, “is to leave them alone.”, Photograph by Phillip Ross, Felis Images, Nature Picture Library, Florida leopard attack put humans—and big cats—in a terrible situation, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/10/florida-leopard-attack-put-humans-and-big-cats-in-a-terrible-situation.html, social media’s influence on people’s perceptions of wild animals, charged with wildlife trafficking and animal cruelty, documented numerous cases of animal suffering. These two sites in the IHR differ in certain standard parameters such as (i) human population, (ii) variation in altitude, (iii) forest cover, (iv) precipitation, (v) major land use patterns, and (vi) livestock population. When there are incidents of large cats such as tiger and leopard killing and injuring humans, it evokes a serious public backlash and a setback for conservation efforts. To reduce livestock depredation respondents opined to use predator proof enclosures and lights around households in Pauri whereas in North Bengal people vouched for relocating problem animals, introducing native wild prey in forests and installing predator proof enclosures. The attacks demonstrate a real risk of accidents from jaguars in certain regions, such as the Pantanal and the Amazon. This is largely due to the strong foundation of Joint Forest Management (JFM) activities [69] that have long been practiced in North Bengal leading to better awareness and participation of local communities in conservation and management of biodiversity. Seventy-eight percent of the victims who sustained injuries were tea estate workers by profession. Questions were repeated several times if the respondents had problem in comprehending and a response was noted down only when there was no ambiguity. broad scope, and wide readership – a perfect fit for your research every time. In the eastern Himalayan foothills (dooars region of West Bengal) there has been reports of more than 700 attacks on humans by leopard between 1990–2016 [26]. Some of the most significant reasons cited for attacks on humans were diurnal nature of tiger activity and preferential use of certain habitat types in Sundarban mangroves recorded through satellite telemetry [55] and radio-collaring of leopard within both these sites should also be undertaken to understand their movement and resource utilization patterns. The study also concluded that abundance of leopard and humans were not the primary drivers of conflicts [20]. Beta coefficient values of predictor variables of best model, North Bengal. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. We used chi-square analysis (α = 0.05) [36] to compare attack events between seasons, months of the year, time of the day and different age class and occupation of leopard attack victims. Citation: Naha D, Sathyakumar S, Rawat GS (2018) Understanding drivers of human-leopard conflicts in the Indian Himalayan region: Spatio-temporal patterns of conflicts and perception of local communities towards conserving large carnivores. The best model was selected based on the lowest AIC values Tables 2 and 3. This man isn’t a lion whisperer—it’s completely unnatural.”.
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