Literary Speaking: Wild and Wilful
By Ranjit Monga*
Habitats of animals need urgent protection, demands wildlife conservationist Neha Sinha, who is the author of the book Wild and Wilful, which forces you to look at the world from the perspective of wildlife. It makes sense for humanity to find ways to co-exist with nature rather than be constantly battling it, and also respect and make space for all animals and birds who live among us, she says.
“So much of our life is connected with nature, you know, our food comes from the soil, and milk comes from the stomachs of animals, and a healthy life is never complete without clean air and without seeing greenery around us. So, nature is not our enemy,” she emphasises.
“Why do we consider anything that is not a human being to be such a pest, or such a nuisance? Because oftentimes, animals do not want anything to do with us. They just want to go about their business,” she points out, referring to man-animal conflicts which have become so much a part of our daily lives with increasing urbanisation and the cutting down of forests for development.
“The more we become intolerant towards each other or wild animals, it creates an aggression in us which is perhaps not required,” she adds.
Sinha’s book talks about 15 wild species that are finding it extremely difficult to survive in the wild in India.
“The book is about the way our lives are interwoven with the lives of wild animals around us. This book is about how living in India, one of the most important aspects of our life, is not just the food, the culture, and the clothing, but also the way wild animals cross into our lives. So whether it’s a Leopard that comes into a campus, whether it’s a tiger that comes near people as it crosses highways, whether it’s elephants that cross railway lines, or whether it’s birds that come into our garden, they are around us and urgently need conservation attention,” she enlightens.
Some of these endangered species, which Sinha refers to are the tiger, the elephant, leopard, the great Indian bustard, and also common species that are amongst us in large numbers, such as the plain tiger butterfly, or the rosy starling, which is a migratory bird that comes to India every year.
The book highlights their struggles and triumphs within the intricate ecosystems that they inhabit, and which are constantly under threat.
Sinha, known for her advocacy for wildlife protection, began her career as a journalist with The Indian Express. Driven by her love for wildlife conservation, she went on to do her Master of Science in ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Management’ at Oxford University. She has worked with the ‘Bombay Natural History Society’ and is now with the ‘World Wildlife Fund’ in New Delhi. The book captures both the lives of the wild animals as well as the lives of people whose lives these animals cross.
Sinha states that the way cities are developing today excludes nature. So, we find it very odd or very amazing if an animal comes near us. But in fact, our cities are part of a larger landscape, which could be the habitats of certain animals.” For example, the suburbs of Delhi are part of the leopard habitats, which extend up to the Shivalik hills. “Leopards are extremely adaptable cats. And now, unable to take prey from a wide variety of places, they live near fields, near forests, and even in places where there are people. The question is, how can we live in a manner that we do not feel an intense rivalry with each other,” she opines.
There are many ways in which we can avoid actual confrontation with a leopard. “I think one of the worst things that people do when they see a wild animal, because they think cities are only for people, is that they have an antagonistic view of that animal, and they try to kill it, or they try to confront it. And that’s when conflict really happens,” Sinha adds. She informs that the same sort of conflict takes place in other cities such as Mumbai and Guwahati as well.
“Leopards live amongst us, and we do not even get to know that they are there. Oftentimes, they are silent as ghosts. So, what we need to do is to re-educate ourselves on how we can avoid having such encounters,” she states, and suggests installing proper lights in neighbourhoods along with controlling the dog population. “Normally, it’s during twilight when an animal like a leopard is active, so good lighting can prevent a confrontation. And they do eat a lot of stray dogs. People who live in tea and coffee estates in various parts of India coexist with leopards by following some of these simple rules,” she adds.
Talking about the dichotomy that we have for elephants, Sinha maintains that on one hand we look upon them as a living God, but also look upon them as a pest or as competition. Talking about a peculiar situation in which people often turn cruel towards these animals, Sinha narrates how groups of people drive away wild herds that invade their fields in North Bengal. They are chased away by people who fling burning coals at the herds of elephants. “For the elephant, that’s just food. But for us, we look upon the animal as a thief. They throw balls of fire at them to scare them. And sometimes what happens is they try to cross a railway line while being chased and get killed by oncoming trains,” she narrates.
“Sometimes it is a railway line they have to cross, or sometimes a highway with fast-moving vehicles. The entire landscape is not conducive for them. And this is an animal that needs to eat 150 kilos of food every day,” Sinha explains.
According to Sinha, the solution is in providing a safe passage between the areas that form their habitats and not cutting them off. Giving crop compensation to farmers on time in lieu of the crop they have lost to elephants can also help solve the conflict issue. “We can also have a certification scheme in which farmers are paid a premium for not harming elephants. This is something that is working in certain parts of the world, and we need to try and adopt such innovative approaches to solve the problem,” she maintains.
“We really need a new idea of development in which you can have the infrastructure you want without sacrificing existing habitats. Right now, we think it is okay to cut down trees to make a road, but let’s try to think a little differently. So, if you are making a road through a forest, why don’t we elevate the road so that the animals can cross underneath? It has been done in a few places, like in Madhya Pradesh and in Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand,” she reveals.
“If we are making a dam that is going to drown a lot of forest land, we need to think again. Are we ready to pay the price for such development? A lot of these infrastructure projects might be very old-fashioned because right now, with climate change, with more storms, we are having more landslides in the hills. So, we need to rethink. We need to be a bit progressive in our ideas. Let us go back to the drawing board and see that we ensure that the habitat is protected,” she advises.
Talking about the Great Indian Bustard, Sinha discloses that it is the only bird named after our country and is sadly an endangered species today. “It is a big bird, weighs about eighteen kilos, and is one of the heaviest flying birds on earth. It likes a dry habitat. Earlier, it was found all over the Deccan peninsula and even in Uttar Pradesh. But now it is found only in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat,” Sinha informs and discloses that its habitat has fallen prey to relentless land use change. “Areas which were pasture lands have been converted to crop fields, housing, or some other use. So, the bird has nowhere to go. Perhaps the animals that live in the forest are doing a little better than other animals or birds that have a different habitat outside of the sanctuaries and protected areas,” she says.
“We now have only about a hundred left. Another huge threat to their habitat is the massive solar plants that are coming up in these places and the wires that carry the solar power. The bustard collides with them and dies because it cannot see them very well,” she reveals.
Click below to listen to the full interview
On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CJjjdYE3pWITA4qNg5Nqx?si=47fb1aacc1ea4b1d
On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/books-and-us/id1688845897?i=1000679554409
*Senior journalist
