Leopard ambassadors- Delegates of Conservation...

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Leopard ambassadors-‐ Delegates of Conservation -‐ by Mrunal M Ghosalkar ‘Janata Waghoba’ (The wise big cat) is a public awareness campaign. The objective of the campaign is to use the power of the high school children to disseminate among their communities knowledge of the precautions they need to take when they share space with wild animals like leopards. Since January 2016, a group comprising of scientists, an artist, Forest Department officials and conservationists joined hands to create and implement a knowledge module. The source of this knowledge was interviews conducted to assess traditional practices employed by communities of Warli and Mahadev Koli who have shared space with big cats for generations and recent research studies in the area. The title of the awareness campaign was inspired from the widely popular Marathi Play ‘Janata Raja’ on (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj). Considering the consequences of human-‐leopard conflict, the key messaging through this work was awareness about measures to prevent accidental encounters with leopards. Thus the focus of the program was to pass on such traditional and scientific based information to other communities who do not know as much about leopards through the medium of art.

Pic 1: Janata Waghoba logo The campaign was started in Junnar (Pune district) and Sangamner (Ahmednagar district) in Maharashtra state. The landscape is situated in the foothills of Sahyadri-‐ a mountain range which is rich not only in biodiversity but also the culture of the people. The landscape characterized by mountains, rivers,




sugarcane fields, agricultural farms, and forts of great historical significance!

Pic 2: Landscape This area was a dry and arid zone until about 4-‐5 decades ago when the construction of dams on the major rivers changed the appearance of the entire landscape. The land cover has changed from dry land to permanently irrigated agriculture with cash crops such as maize and sugarcane along with traditional crops of millets. Due to efficient irrigation, crops throughout the year cover the land. Even when sugar cane at one farm is harvested, there is always a neighboring farm, within a large belt of 2-‐3 acre, growing sugar cane alongside. The presence of permanent tall cover has changed the landscape entirely and made it a good refuge for species like the leopards and hyenas. In these areas, people don’t know much about the species as they have not shared space with leopards historically and nor are these animals very visible. The information they have is sourced from public or media which many times are not correct.




There was a necessity to address this complicated scenario by providing people the knowledge that allows for safer shared spaces. The purpose of the campaign was to address the fear associated with leopards and shift the focus to a greater understanding of the complexity of the issues at hand.

Pic 3: Scenic beauty of Narayangaon, Junnar The awareness campaign targeted students in the local schools from age group 13 to 15. The knowledge we acquired from tribal communities and scientific researches, on the precautionary measures that people can take to share space with leopards were translated into art by Doodle Factory. This art material was used to teach students about leopard biology, precautions in the form of simple do’s & dont's to protect livestock and safety measures to avoid encounters with leopards.




Pic 4: Flash cards illustrated by Doodle Factory

In the high school classes, we choose children ambassadors based on their enthusiasm to take part in making their own communities more aware of the issue. The duty of a Leopard Ambassador was to inform his/her parents; family members and villagers about precautions that would help them protect themselves as well as their livestock from the leopards that are present in their area. They would have the medium of art we provided them to illustrate the issues.




Pic 5: Students with leopard ambassador badge and Janata Waghoba bags We also provided booklets of ‘Waghobachya Goshti’ (Stories of leopards), (www.projectwaghoba.in/docs/waghobachya_goshti.pdf) which was written by a local farmer who was part of the research project and is based on his experience with leopards to schools. The campaign was designed such that the youngsters who belonged to the same community became the vehicles to communicate information to villagers on the precautions that could be exercised to live safely in areas where leopards are present. (http://www.rufford.org/projects/mrunal_ghosalkar)




Pic 6: Ambassadors informing villagers about safety measures in areas where leopards are present The major occupations of the people here are livestock rearing and agriculture. Previous studies done in this landscape found that the leopard’s primary prey items were domestic animals; this can potentially result in conflict. A leopard sighting in the human dominated area generally resulted in panic amongst communities who pressurise the Forest Department to trap the animal and relocate it. In such areas, where media and people constantly talk about leopards in a negative light, these little ambassadors have the power to change the narrative by talking about the precautions that people can take to share space with leopards. People perceived this information very positively as their own kids were teaching them this and more importantly it was in their own language. Especially parents were pleased with their kids talking to people very actively and enthusiastically, creating awareness and felt proud that their children were involved a social cause. The work of leopard ambassadors also resulted in another major outcome -‐ it brought about the effective joint participation of various stakeholders like students, schools, villagers, Forest Department and media.




Pic 7: Ambassadors informing villagers about precautions during Gram Sabha

These children from rural areas do not watch wildlife on TV shows, but they do have leopards wandering on their own farms. They see the leopard’s cubs that are often found in sugarcane fields. They also see how Forest Department officials put the trapping cage for leopard and witness a leopard predating on livestock from their own livestock shed. The kids were curious to know about various research methods to study the animal. For the first time, they learned that leopards are given names by scientists (Vidya Athreya gave names to four leopards when she was studying them as Jai Maharashtra, Lakshai, Sita, and Ajoba). The knowledge that the children had so far was based on information given by their parents, who would have received this information not from textbooks or scientific knowledge but from media, rumors and other unreliable sources. The awareness program created a platform to address questions such as 'why do leopards drink blood?' which was based on rumors they had heard. Some children also had the question 'why can’t we kill a leopard?' Discussing such questions became an important medium of addressing human-‐leopard conflict in the region.




Pic 8: Happy learning in the farm The Janata Waghoba campaign efforts made us understand the human-‐leopard interactions from a child’s perspective. The prime achievement of this work was ambassador’s network and keenness. This work was a new experience for us to attempt to reduce problems to both (humans as well as leopards). The children we got to interact with had better communication skills with people of their own community, were interested in learning new things, had a social responsibility, were aware of the local landscape and its challenges very well, political affairs in the village and were passionate about wildlife. We believe that the children of rural areas are the future conservationists who are capable of resolving the human-‐leopard conflict.




Pic 9: Children were happy as this local appreciated their efforts a lot Project Funded by:

About the author: Mrunal is passionate about working with communities and enjoys being with them. She is interested in the field of community-‐based conservation, conservation education, and human-‐wildlife interactions. Currently, she is working with the Wildlife Conservation Society-‐India as the Awareness and Outreach coordinator.

Leopard ambassadors- Delegates of Conservation...

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