Skip to main content

Conservation conversation

Attending a ‘Chogue’ an annual Puja in one of the household in the gewog I work, I happened to share my seat with a native. Everyone seems to be engrossed in casual chit-chat since such gathering is meant for the same. With not much to talk, he was exploring all means to initiate a talk with me for which coincidentally I was doing the same. We didn’t want to recite ‘silent mantra’ in the bee-buzzing like surrounding.


Knowing that I am working with Department of Forest and park Services, he claimed to have lost his cattle to the leopard few months ago. ‘A livestock depredation issue?’ what could have been a better topic to chat than this, afterall livestock depredation is one issue of concern when humans and wild animals come in conflict. He expressed his suffering of great loss when he said, “it killed my favourite and most healthy cow due for lactation.” I shared the loss with him.

The conversation continued when I explained him that livestock depredation is a grave concern and it is very much within the knowledge of the government.  The loss is shared even by conservationist when they unleash their anger by means of retaliation. In an effort to reduce the conflict, the government has continuously explored mechanism to resolve it which one strategy is institution a monetary compensation scheme provided the depredation involves either a tiger or snow leopard which unluckily for him was the common leopard.

He said, “such big cats are known to deep forest or high mountain habitat and there is no reason why it has to come so near to human settlements.” I supplemented him that leopard is one shy and timid species among the big cat family and avoid all encounters with humans. Still why does it appear so bold and muster courage to encroach beyond the line?


For the sake of prolonging the conversation, he lent me his ear though he didn’t seem to get much out of this particular lecture of mine. “In the forest the leopards prey on deer, wild pigs, porcupines and any other species in the lower rung of the food chain.” I added, “when such food chain is disturbed, the repercussions are felt by the human.” He went blank and sipped his local brewed wine from the cup in front of him.

Least bothered I went on to explain him how much does he think when he kill the deer, wild boars and destroy their habitats. For you, it is all about protecting your crops and enjoying the carcass. But indirectly, it is like snatching food from someone’s plate to fill your own stomach letting the victim go hungry. He accepted that he either killed few instance or heard of neighbours kill the ungulates. Deforestation need not be substantiated since he said he understands of ever receding forest areas.


“So, given the choice, you see leopards would choose to maintain the distance from your cattle. Driven by the hunger when his food is made unavailable by people like us, he pounces on your cattle”. I concluded the conservation conversation.


Intoxicated both by the local brew and my lecture, he excused himself from me and left home. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Love for a Days’s Trip

‘To meet, to know, to love and to depart is the law of life’ someone has said it. We rally with strangers and people we have never known before in homes, schools, institutions and other public gatherings because we are born in different places. When we meet the strangers, we make friends with some of them and sometime we fall in love with few of them especially the young guys and ladies. We remains committed and dedicated to friendship or loveship, whatever the relationship you are sharing. But for how long? You got to ask yourself. One fateful day, you find that you are departing from your friend or lover going away to find your own friend, your own lover and your own foes. Ofcourse, it hurts so much but it is a law the life has framed and you ought to obey it. And if you don’t keep in contact through all possible means, it is much easier to forget. While traveling in the bus, you share the seats with someone especially with spinsters and you introduce, talk and become friend and s

A Long, long, long journey to Education

“Root of the education is bitter but the fruit is sweet” no one would know about it better than Kado. The fatigue of having to toddle to the school, fever of unending exams, the torture of having to burn the midnight oil, dozing in classes and the stern rigors are hard to endure, few even give up on the way but many endure it with utmost determination and commitment, because deep inside everyone knows it pays later. “Root of the education is bitter but the fruit is sweet” no one would know about it better than Kado Kado in the tender age of 12 is negotiating the lazily meandering footpath along the steep mountain. His school bag, full of books, pulls him back. His black naughty boy school shoe is all soiled, indication of how many times he has trudged that same footpath. He is on his way to the primary school in his village, almost 5 kilometers away. He has to make sure he is in the school before morning social work starts; else he gets penalized. Unlike the students who reside nearb

Defining Tsa-Wa-Sum in One’s own Perspective

If I am asked, I would boldly answer, “The Tsa-Wa-Sum is “Gyeb, Gyelkhab and Meser”, (King, Country and People). But not everyone knows about what tsa-wa-sum is. Hence, when the superior ask them, they are left to conceive their own tsa-wa-sum. Once a meeting was convened by the Dzongdag. In a large congregation of illiterate rural people, the Dzongdag thundered, “do you know what tsa-wa-sum is?” “Can anyone from the crowd tell me?” The crowd went to pin drop silence and no one seems ready to answer. Are they scared of Dasho or no one has the slightest idea what it is? Suddenly, a Ngalop man sitting in the last bench, for whom Dasho is hardly visible, stood up. With his head bowed low, he answers, “The three tsa-wa-sum are Ngalops, Sharchops and Lhotsampas”. “This is because they are the three race in Bhutan” Dasho went into bout of annoyance but before he fired the man, another Lhotsampa (Southern Bhutanese Man) supplemented, “the three tsa-wa-sum are Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) Royal B