Photo credit: New York Times
In India, the Junnar forest department has reached out to sugarcane farmers and labourers to sensitize them about the situation on the ground and the dos and don’ts of staying in leopard-prone areas.
Hindustan Times reports that while the sugarcane-cutting season has started and farmers and farm labourers are increasingly arriving in Junnar, Ambegaon, Shirur, and Daund tehsils of Pune district, where fields are ripe for harvest, growing instances of leopard sightings and attacks in these regions have prompted the Junnar forest department to reach out to this particular demographic and make them aware of the situation.
Many families work as farmers and farm labourers in these sprawling sugarcane fields. They are wont to stay in temporary settlements built on farms or open grounds, leaving them gullible to leopard attacks. This year, several incidents have been reported of farm labourers or members of their families being attacked by leopards.
In some cases, people working in sugarcane fields and even their children have died in these attacks. Recently, such deaths have been reported in the Mandavgan Farara (Shirur) and Boripardh (Daund) villages. According to experts, more such attacks will likely happen in the coming months as the sugarcane-cutting season typically lasts from November to January yearly. The department is doing its best to sensitize people in leopard-prone areas to avoid future mishaps.
Smita Rajhans, assistant conservator of forests, Junnar forest department, said, “We have issued guidelines about the dos and don’ts while living in leopard-prone areas, and we are always trying to spread awareness among the people. However, people tend to ignore these guidelines most of the time. In some cases, even the slightest mistake can lead to a fatality. Therefore, we are now enhancing our efforts to reach out to more people and make them aware of the situation on ground. Farmers and migrant workers are our main focus. We will also be visiting all the units where sugarcane juice is extracted and jaggery produced in villages under the Junnar forest department’s jurisdiction.”
