“My dear Leopard, for you, a thousand times over.”
A ghastly incident has taken place in village called Dhar, in Madhya Pradesh. A leopard was brutally beaten to death with sticks, stones and swords.
After pouring scorn on policemen in Chicago for shooting dead a cougar, I truly hang my head in shame for what these villagers’ of Dhar have done.
An eyewitness account by one of the villager shows how ignorant these people are. It seems that the villagers had gathered around the fields and were moving in a group towards the leopard. The leopard then attacked a child, following which the animal was beaten to death.
What were they thinking? Crazy villagers! It is not a village fair or a circus show. It is a wild animal, for crying out loud. Did they expect the big cat to shake hands and let them pat its head? What was a child doing there in the first place?
In a video clip that was being aired on a news channel, the villagers were still beating the dead leopard. Senseless brutalism coupled with ignorance and pseudo aggressiveness? Bloody villagers!
Apparently, the wild cat was lynched right in front of the forest officers, who in turn watched helplessly, being out numbered at 20:1. Priorities are highly screwed up here in India and it is a sad fact. Holding on to one’s job, licking politicians arses; sadly ranks very high up there, priority-wise. Nobody gives a rat’s ass to wildlife and other earthly matters. What a fucking joke! (This has become my favorite punch-line after reading The White Tiger).
Raghuvendra Shrivastava, District Forest Officer of Dhar, was more worried about the compensation that would be given to the injured people and was least bothered about apprehending the villagers who were responsible for this ghastly act.
When I googled for leopards, the first 10 results were all about leopards being killed at various parts of India. I tried to dig up a statistic on how many leopards were being killed everyday and how many were left. Unfortunately, no official figures turned up. Blame the Indian bureaucracy.
An outdated piece of information from the Wildlife Protection Society, whose website is not functioning, said that so far 141 leopards have been killed in 2008. Saving grace?
I did not want this to be my first post, this year. But I have no choice. “My dear Leopard, for you, a thousand times over.”
A ghastly incident has taken place in village called Dhar, in Madhya Pradesh. A leopard was brutally beaten to death with sticks, stones and swords.
After pouring scorn on policemen in Chicago for shooting dead a cougar, I truly hang my head in shame for what these villagers’ of Dhar have done.
An eyewitness account by one of the villager shows how ignorant these people are. It seems that the villagers had gathered around the fields and were moving in a group towards the leopard. The leopard then attacked a child, following which the animal was beaten to death.
What were they thinking? Crazy villagers! It is not a village fair or a circus show. It is a wild animal, for crying out loud. Did they expect the big cat to shake hands and let them pat its head? What was a child doing there in the first place?
In a video clip that was being aired on a news channel, the villagers were still beating the dead leopard. Senseless brutalism coupled with ignorance and pseudo aggressiveness? Bloody villagers!
Apparently, the wild cat was lynched right in front of the forest officers, who in turn watched helplessly, being out numbered at 20:1. Priorities are highly screwed up here in India and it is a sad fact. Holding on to one’s job, licking politicians arses; sadly ranks very high up there, priority-wise. Nobody gives a rat’s ass to wildlife and other earthly matters. What a fucking joke! (This has become my favorite punch-line after reading The White Tiger).
Raghuvendra Shrivastava, District Forest Officer of Dhar, was more worried about the compensation that would be given to the injured people and was least bothered about apprehending the villagers who were responsible for this ghastly act.
When I googled for leopards, the first 10 results were all about leopards being killed at various parts of India. I tried to dig up a statistic on how many leopards were being killed everyday and how many were left. Unfortunately, no official figures turned up. Blame the Indian bureaucracy.
An outdated piece of information from the Wildlife Protection Society, whose website is not functioning, said that so far 141 leopards have been killed in 2008. Saving grace?
I did not want this to be my first post, this year. But I have no choice. “My dear Leopard, for you, a thousand times over.”
Rightly said..i read an article yesterday which talked about tribals - who hunt for a living were being rehabilitated. But the tribals, nay villagers are not getting good jobs and so have started to hunt again..and guess which is their fav animal...gone are the days when they hunted tigers, now they are after leopards...god save those beauties or we need to...
ReplyDeleteThe leopard entered the village, about 8km from Dhar and attacked 6 villagers, after which the panicked villagers attacked it back with stones, swords and sticks...so wat's wrong in that? Also, villagers informed the police immediately about the incident. When police officials reached the venue, they were completely unarmed. While the police officials and the villagers were waiting for the officials of the forest department to arrive, the leopard tried to escape and in the process injured another villager. We gathered around the fields and decided to move further in a group but everybody was moving in parts. Suddenly, it caught hold of a child. Seeing this, I couldn't stop myself and jumped in to save the child. I had a sword in my hand, which I pushed into the leopard's mouth, but it still bit my hands. Thankfully the villagers came to my rescue or else I would have died by now.Following this, the villagers attacked the leopard with sticks, stones and swords.
ReplyDeletePradeep, a victim,MadhyaPradesh
These days I read a lot such incidents of wild animals straying into urban areas and this is increasing mainly because of loss of habitat and increased human encroachment into forest areas.
ReplyDeleteThanks Guru and Shilz for your comments.
ReplyDeletePradeep....let me break it down for you!
"The leopard entered the village, about 8km from Dhar and attacked 6 villagers, after which the panicked villagers attacked it back with stones, swords and sticks...so wat's wrong in that?"
Well...unfortunately the Leopard is on the endangered animal's list. If these were dime a dozen like your village dogs...nobody would care what those people have done. Leopards entering villages and attacking humans....i guess we are the root cause for it. Killing the animal does not solve the problem.
"While the police officials and the villagers were waiting for the officials of the forest department to arrive, the leopard tried to escape and in the process injured another villager."
What were those people hanging around for. Is it a circus? Common sense would dictate that one should give a wild animal a wide berth, so that it can escape back into the forest.
"We gathered around the fields and decided to move further in a group but everybody was moving in parts. Suddenly, it caught hold of a child."
What were those people thinking? Crazy. Why would any one want to move in towards an leopard and with children amongst them?
"a victim"
If you truly are a victim, then you deserve to be a victim! If you are so stubborn, then nature will teach you a proper lesson in respecting it, the hard way. Be prepared!