APR 5 TIGER & ELEPHANT ATTACKS ON THE RISE IN INDIA

APR 5  TIGER & ELEPHANT ATTACKS ON THE RISE IN INDIA

Surprise! The toughest guy in the world isn't a GUY! Nope, it's 23 year-old Rapali Meshram. She lives on the edge of jungle in the Indian state of Maharashtra. One night, she heard her favorite goat scream in pain. She rushed outside to discover a massive tiger, crouched and ready to pounce. Did she run back inside and lock the door? Not the world's toughest guy! Instead, she grabbed a stick and tried to protect her goat. Details of the fight are sketchy, but we know that her mom dragged her back inside. Before heading to hospital, she took a selfie.

While this story of misplaced bravery makes for fun copy, the truth is Rapali is one of the lucky ones. Since 2014, one person a day in India dies from a tiger or elephant attack. Do the math: That's 1,144 people getting mauled or trampled to death in the last three years. Most deaths happen in a similar manner: A rancher or farmer attempting to protect their property. While it may seem extreme, remember: The goat, cattle or fruit tree is the person's lifeline, so it truly is a "life or death" matter.

The larger problem involves the simple fact that the nation of India isn't big enough anymore. As everyone knows, India's population is enormous and keeps expanding. It's at 1.3 billion and has grown by 3 by the time you reach the end of this blog. Also, tiger populations are rising. Since conservation efforts began in the 1970's, the number of wild tigers has doubled. The one statistic that isn't changing is India's size. It's holding steady at 1,266,219 square miles. So the government's plan to keep cramming more and more people and animals together is not working out.

The current problem began forty years ago, when the Indian government implemented the conservation act. Large swaths of sought-after lands were parceled off for nature reserves. At the time, there was enough land for every man and beast. Nowadays, new human settlements are seen as economic development, even if they are on the edge of a nature reserve. Belinda Wright of a Wildlife Protection Society agrees. "The shrinking of good quality habitats is an absolutely critical concern for the future of India's iconic animals."

Back to Rapali. Yesterday, she and her mother were discharged from hospital. They were told not to fight any more wild beasts. Sadly, things didn't go well for the goat, who did not recover from the attack. The tiger remains at large. The lesson here is that modern India is not the Kipling novel The Jungle Book. Humans and tigers cannot talk to each other and work things out. Yet this seems to be the government's approach to the problem. Let's face it: If India doesn't get serious about drawing, keeping and enforcing urban limit lines, conflict between will continue. How many more goats must die?