Rubbish, Stray Dogs and Leopards

In this blog I have often talked about the link between poorly managed refuse and high populations of stray dogs. In many places the real problem that urban residents face is not actually the dogs that are so readily blamed and targeted but people’s own waste disposal methods (or lack thereof) which support the dogs in the first place and would remain a problem even if the dogs were removed. A story about Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in India takes the problem an extra level (more detail here).

SGNP is close to the city of Mumbai and has numerous human settlements around its boundary. It also has a healthy population of leopards who have become a problem by wandering out of the Park and thereby coming into direct conflict with people. So far this year six people have been killed in the area by leopards.

A project to reduce the conflict, which studied the leopards’ movements amongst other aspects, has clearly highlighted the link between poor garbage management and leopards coming into close proximity with people. The connection between the two is the stray dogs (and to some extent other animals such as cats, pigs and cattle) that feed on the edible rubbish and provide an enticing source of prey to the leopards. Once encouraged into the area by the presence of dogs they will find opportunities to prey on people.

The obvious conclusion to prevent future human deaths is for people to manage their garbage more efficiently in order to reduce the stray dog population over the long-term.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)