India,
and China, are the two most populous countries of the world. There
are more than 1.25 billion Indians living in India today. With a
total land area of 3,287,590 thousand square kilometers and with
about 7829021 thousand square kilometers occupied by uninhabitable
forests, land area that is left to house and feed these 1.25 billion
people is only 2498568 thousand square kilometers. Out of this area
many areas such as deserts are not livable at all. This means that
for every square kilometer there are as many as 500 people living
there.
These
statistics could create easily an impression that no other animal
species except for humans lives on Indian landmass. Nothing can be
far from truth. The uninhabitable forest areas, mountains, river
gorges and above all Himalayan areas, have very sparse human
habitation and actually is a home for large number of land, marine
and sky based animal species. Sometimes however, these forest
dwellers accidentally find themselves in areas inhabited by humans
and create fear, confusion and sometimes even terror.
When I
was young, discovering a poisonous snake in the vicinity of my house
was not a very uncommon experience at all. We had a water canal
flowing almost next to our house and during summer or on days when
there was a heavy downpour, these reptiles seeking a shelter,
sometimes took refuge near the house. We had to make big efforts to
evict them, which usually ended in these reptiles loosing their
lives. Considering our own safety, we had no qualms about this action
at all, though now a days it might be considered as something that is
not in rule books.
We do
come across news of wild animals impinging upon human dwellings even
today. The snkes and spotted panthers are not uncommon but to find
crocodiles is something that is very rare indeed and getting news of
two such incidences on the same day, makes it certainly newsworthy.
The first news has come from a residential society in Sojitra town of
Gujarat's Anand district, where a live 5 feet long crocodile was
discovered by one Mr. Bharat Patel in his bathroom. Patel's were
naturally shocked to see that the five foot long crocodile had
occupied the bathroom of their house. Mr. Bharat Patel was entering
the bathroom, when he saw this crocodile in the corner. He
immediately locked the bathroom from outside and informed his
neighbours about the presence of the wild animal in his house. Later
forest officials reached the spot to cage the animal and later it
was released in a lake in Malataj village of Anand district of
Gujarat.
'Rui'
is a small village in Hathkangale Taluk of Maharashtra state on the
bank of Panchaganga river, which is one of the major rivers of the
state. The villagers had reported, since last several days crocodile
sightings in the sugar cane fields that had turrned swampy because of
very heavy rainfall in the region. Two days back, two villagers gone
to the field for grass cutting, saw a giant 16 feet long creature
posing quietly. When the crocodile saw the humans, it made sudden and
violent movements, creating terror for the two, who ran away to the
village. Later villagers returned to the field with ropes and managed
to closed the mouth of the crocodile with a rope lasso and then later
blinded it with a cloth piece wrapped around its mouth. The tied up
crocodile was loaded in a bullock cart and was delivered to the
office of the forest officials, who are now planning to release it in
a safe place.
Sightings
of wild animals near human habitats, according to many nature lovers,
is actually a danger signal showing that humans are encroaching upon
the habitats of wild animals. The forest areas are reserved for the
flora and fauna and we humans should not really interfere there. When
that happens, the wild creatures move out. Perhaps these two
incidences might bring more awareness of this problem.
31st
July 2014
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