BENGALURU: A recent research has shown declining levels of tolerance towards tigers and leopards from people living in the vicinity of Bandipur National Park. This is because of the farmers’ decision to buy costly hybrid cows that often become the prey of big cats.Scientists from Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) say that shifting from traditional to hybrid cattle breeds and the consequent increase in financial costs associated with their loss to killings by tigers and leopards have reduced tolerance towards these carnivores. In fact, the research focused on analysing cattle rather than human-wildlife interactions themselves, a novel approach to arrive at their conclusions.
Krithi Karanth, CWS says, “Our research findings demonstrate the need to go beyond popular and often misleading narratives to identify and understand the various and complex linkages that often underlie in human-carnivore interactions.”
The study reveals how the much-publicised state narratives about conflicts conceal the foundational changes in the livelihood patterns of people living in the vicinity of tiger reserves. Scientists investigated the reasons behind declining tolerance for injury and death caused by carnivores in the Bandipur area and found that protected area management strategies were also behind this change.
According to the lead author of the study, Jared Margulies, University of Sheffield (UK), changes in livestock rearing patterns are producing new spaces where livestock and carnivores meet and local conservation efforts to reduce negative interactions between humans and carnivores needs to account these changes to reduce the burden of living with carnivores on rural communities.