Gujarat is one of the most visited States in the Indian union by wild-life lovers and naturalists, as it boasts most vivid wild-life and bird population, normal habituating as well as heaven for migrating birds. It boasts Asiatic lions found nowhere else and the second highest leopard population in India with some 1400 wild cats roaming freely, more wild animals per square mile than any other State with the sole exception of thinly populated States bordering Himalayas.
But the State does not have much forested area and with rising population, encroaching forested areas, the clash between wild cats and humans is inevitable. Recently leopard killed a young girl near the village of Vadigam. The enraged villagers soon trapped the animal in a cage, the normal practice to catch man-eating wild cats that stray near human settlements.
The normal procedure is either to kill the animal humanly by Forest Rangers or releasing it far away from human settlements. But the outraged villagers came out with cans of inflammable liquid and burned the animal to death, the most gruesome, painful manner to kill wild animals.
Gujarat, the birthplace of luminary Gandhiji with one of the most impeccably tolerant population, is now turning extreme, monomania, intolerant even to their own people, the modern day disease where the survival of the fittest is fast gaining popularity.
Kumudini Valambia
By email
