Messaging, social media apps driving deadly clashes with leopards: Indian wildlife groups
Updated
Last November, a leopard which entered a house in a Haryana village, in North India, was beaten to death by a mob claiming self defence.
Sandeep Katana was in the crowd.
Showing the ABC videos and images of the event on his phone, as seen above, he is in no doubt technology helped whip the crowd of predominantly young men into a frenzy.
"They like to take pictures and post on social media if they see a leopard," the 28-year-old real estate worker said.
"They have only heard and read about leopards on TV, in books. When they see one, they tend to get excited."
Wildlife campaigners say group messaging apps' ability to quickly spread news of a leopard sighting, coupled with young men's desire to record and share acts of bravado, are driving them to take on the endangered predators.
"There is a particular section of people, a kind of people who unnecessary shout and create hype," activist Sunil Harsana, from the nearby Mangar village, said.
"They mislead unaware public in order to show their power or might."
And in the digital age, Mr Harsana is emphatic about what is spurring the behaviour.
"Facebook and WhatsApp have a major role in such a situation," he said.
Killing leopards is illegal under India's wildlife protection laws.
But community leader Ram Niwas said officials had not responded when the animal entered a house with women and children inside.
"Villagers attacked the leopard to protect their lives," he told the ABC.
As habitat disappears, conflict inevitable
Mandawar is situated in the Aravalli ranges, sparsely-treed forest which is prime Leopard habitat.
It is also just an hour and half from central Delhi.
On the village's outskirts, new residential plots are being prepared.
As human settlement pushes further into the animals' shrinking domain, the community is well aware of the problem.
Ram Niwas shows the ABC leopard footprints at a dam villagers have built specifically to give the animals an alternative water source in the hope they will not venture into town.
"People are afraid," he said.
"There were no leopards in our area sometime back."
Wildlife officers who came to Mandawar last November claimed the crowd prevented them from reaching the animal to tranquilise and remove it.
Mr Niwas said the hostility was borne of villagers frustration.
"We had asked them many times to catch the leopard," he said.
"They failed to do so, despite it sitting at one place for nearly three hours."
Campaigners switch focus from animal to human behaviour
Wildlife campaigner Neha Sinha, from environmental group the Bombay Natural History Society, said it was possible to teach people to avoid the wild animals.
"Tranquilising and moving leopards, which are territorial animals, won't work," she said.
"While we cannot control an animal because it is a wild animal, we can teach people avoidance behaviour."
Not far from Mandawar, in Mangar village, the group is teaching children about conservation and coexistence, hoping they will pass the message on to their parents.
Ms Sinha now also wants to try a tactic used by modern marketing gurus and conservationists elsewhere in India — circulating messages from influential people on the social media groups villagers use, urging people to leave the animals be.
"We realised, that the way to do it would be to reach the more influential people — the village heads, the youth chiefs, the heads of youth groups, etc," she said.
Mr Katana thinks it could work.
"Definitely people will follow it," he said.
"Now villagers are trying to avoid such incidents."
Community leader Ram Niwas however, remains sceptical.
"When a leopard comes in, then everyone has right to protect themselves," he said.
Topics: animals, human-interest, internet-technology, computers-and-technology, science-and-technology, india
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