18 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 108 (1), Jan-Apr 2011 CIRCUMSTANTIAL AND RESPONSE ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE AFFECTED WITH LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION BY LEOPARDS IN RATNAGIRI Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 108(1), Jan-Apr 2011 18-23 CIRCUMSTANTIAL AND RESPONSE ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE AFFECTED WITH LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION BY LEOPARDS PANTHERA PARDUS LINNAEUS IN RATNAGIRI DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA R.P. DONIKAR 1,5 , V.K. PATIL 2,7 , S.S. NARKHEDE 1,8 , A.D. RANE 3 , D.N. MOKAT 4 AND S.G. BHAVE 1,6 1 College of Forestry, DBSKKV, Dapoli, District Ratnagiri 415 712, Maharashtra, India. 2 Department of Natural Resource Management, College of Forestry, DBSKKV, Dapoli, District Ratnagiri 415 712, Maharashtra, India. 3 Department of Forest Biology and Tree Improvement, College of Forestry, DBSKKV, Dapoli, District Ratnagiri 415 712, Maharashtra, India. Email: ajaydrane_van@rediffmail.com 4 Department of Forest Product Utilization, College of Forestry, DBSKKV, Dapoli, District Ratnagiri 415 712, Maharashtra, India. Email: parimalmokat@rediffmail.com 5 Email: rohitdonikar@gmail.com 6 Email: sg_bhave@rediffmail.com 7 Email: vinjack@sify.com 8 Email: ssn_forest@rediffmail.com Livestock depredation by carnivores has become an important hurdle in conservation of predators at the top of the food chain. To develop feasible recommendations to minimize this conflict, it is important to learn the circumstances of the predation events and attitudes of people. We assessed the circumstances for livestock depredation by leopards in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in India. Records of Maharashtra Forest Department list 621 compensation claims during April 2004 to June 2009. Interviews of 284 affected people were conducted to collect information on the time of attack, location and activity of livestock at the time of attack, people’s perception on the initiation and escalation of the depredation problem, compensation programmme and people’s solution to the problem. We found that a laid-back attitude while herding, grazing livestock in forest areas was responsible for most of the attacks. Similarly, the locals did not give enough importance to strengthening their livestock enclosures. People perceived that the problem of depredation had started and escalated in recent decades. Although most of them were not happy with the compensation scheme, owing to the meagre amount they got, several affected people showed a positive attitude towards the presence of leopards in their area. Similarly, a fairly good number of interviewed people had started adopting precautionary measures. We concluded that modifications in grazing practices and strengthening of enclosures were the important solutions to the problem of depredation and have suggested several possible approaches for people and the Forest Department. Key words: leopard, livestock, depredation, grazing, enclosure, conservation, predators, compensation INTRODUCTION In the Indian subcontinent, Leopards Panthera pardus Linn. 1758 usually, in comparison with other predators, attack more livestock (Rahalkar 2008; Sangay and Vernes 2008). Notwithstanding leopards can also live in human-dominated landscapes with low levels of conflict (Athreya and Belsare 2006). But in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, leopard- attacks on livestock had intensified in 2008 and 2009 (Donikar 2010). However, no cases of purposeful retaliation by livestock owners could be found in the records of the forest department. This could be due to the combined effect of elusiveness and feeding behaviour of leopards that does not allow tracing. This could also be the result of an effective compensation scheme run by the Maharashtra forest department. On the contrary, nearly half of the cases of leopard deaths in the district resulted because of leopards getting snared in wire-nooses placed by farmers for other animals like Wild Pig Sus scrofa (Unreported data from Maharashtra forest department). One of the important aspects in conservation of wild carnivores in human-dominated landscapes is the attitude of the affected people (Rahalkar 2008; Thavarajah 2008). People’s approach towards animal husbandry, as well as response to leopard attacks could play a critical role in designing conflict management strategies. These attitudes could be rooted in their traditions, culture, socio-economics and incentive programmes. We studied the attitudes of people affected with livestock predation by leopards in Ratnagiri district. We used the compensation database of the Maharashtra forest department at Chiplun subdivision for obtaining names and addresses of claimants. We used questionnaire to collect information from a large number of compensation claimants on circumstances of attacks and their response to the situation. STUDY AREA Ratnagiri district (15º 36'-18º 05' N; 73º 05'-74º 36' E) is one of the western coastal districts of Maharashtra (Fig. 1). Its geographical area is nearly 8,200 sq. km. Over 85 per cent of land area of the district is hilly, which includes