Not Geography Geography Lesson 16
A Deadly Collision of Habitats
Like any self-respecting English person, I have a lot of love for our man David Attenborough and enjoy a bit of nature, which is why this week's topic caught my attention as I was perusing for inspo. It has been reported that the Indian government have recently released some interesting stats which reveal a *slightly* alarming increase in fatalities across the country as their more dangerous wildlife has begun to encroach on urban areas.
Maybe England Isn't That Bad...
Whilst as English people we have a lot of things to moan about (and we like it that way!), the prospect of having a tiger spring out of your privet and rip your leg off is not one of those things. In the beautiful wilds of the North West, your worst worry is probably a squirrel giving you nasty nip and I have heard geese can be a bit of a handful...
Alas, the folks living on the outskirts of ever-expanding urban areas in India are definitely not as lucky. Whilst sharing their environment with larger and dangerous wildlife including tigers, elephants and leopards is nothing new for them, India's growing population is leading to the expansion of people's settlements into previously natural habitats, and the success of wildlife conservation methods have combined to make some very hairy encounters. Hence, there are now more people and more tigers/elephants/leopards (who are also increasingly angry that someone has bulldozed their habitat) in smaller spaces. You don't need to be Rachel Riley to know that's bad maths.
Nightmare Neighbours Eat Your Heart Out
India is home to 30'000 elephants, around 13'000 leopards, and over 2000 bengal tigers, who are all jockeying for space with the 1.3 billion people also living there. To worsen matters even more, tiger conservation efforts have been employed since 1972, making it illegal to hunt them and hence increasing their numbers whilst also reducing the amount of habitat for them to live in.
In stats released this week, records show on average one fatality from animal encounter per day for the last three years, totalling 1144 over 1143 days. Somewhat surprisingly 1052 of those attacks were attributed to elephants and 92 to tigers; one to consider when playing Most Deadly Top Trumps: India Edition. It is noted that most of the elephant attacks occur on 'elephant corridors' used by the animals for centuries to navigate the countryside, whilst tiger attacks occur predominantly when lone persons accidentally cross paths with them during their hunting.
The Bigger Picture
Whilst increasing numbers of wildlife fatalities and attacks are alarming enough in themselves, they are unexpected symptoms of global-scale problems caused by human population increase and the destruction of natural habitats. Comparatively, the UK housing crisis looks much more favourable than an elephant rampaging through your garden or finding a leopard in your bins! Clearly there is an awkward balance to be achieved in India, as elsewhere in the world, between preserving nature and providing for an expanding population, and it would be a huge loss to undo conservation efforts because of these encounters. After all, I think anyone would want to stamp on some strangers who just set up camp on your patio without asking!
Hope you enjoyed this week's post!
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