Leopards in the Backyard

About the Book In natural history, the leopard has been the most debatable subject of all the beasts of prey. Some sportsmen described him as a slinking coward while others considered him a potentially dangerous game. This animal follows a lifestyle, contrary to the usual ways of predators. It does all that a sensible animal should not. It is as if the entire race is crazy. not following the laws of nature and predatory behavior, but with a strange quirk in its genetic make-up and largely no satisfactory explanations available for its intriguing. seemingly antithetical ways. All this does not fit in place because the animal is a successful, adaptable hunter and can co-exist with civilizations advance to a remarkable degree. surviving even to this day with the shrinking edges of the wilderness.

Dudhwa National Park and its closeby Kishanpur Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh are one of the last surviving strongholds of Toral's wild life. These perennial forests are a very special haven for tigers and leopards, Rahul Shukla belongs to a feudal family whose nearly fifteen villages are nestled in these jungles and many more ring its perimeter. One could never have availed such a splendid opportunity to observe big cats from close quarters as Rahul did for over thirty years. He lived here in his boyhood and roamed about these forests in the company of native hunters, watching their incredible ways of trapping and trailing game. In his early age he also accompanied family expeditions in which several tigers and leopards were invariably shot. He now serves as Honorary Wild Life Warden of the same area, and still gets ample opportunity to watch wild life whilst patrolling the forest.

In this very personal book, the author tells the story of 'Spotty, the Leopardess', that he observed near his ancestral village Larti. Though a tragic tale, it provides new insight in the secret life of this endangered predator. It is marvellous, how efficiently the indigenous leopard utilizes the habitat to achieve and maintain its place in the scheme of things. Leopards in the Backyard is one of the most closely researched document on leopards of Terai in which Rahul Shukla evokes a special appeal for the wilds of India. It is a book, which combines elegant pictures with authoritative and intelligent text.

About the Author Dr. Rahul Shukla is Honorary Wildlife Warden of Shajahanpur, appointed by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. He also looks after the Kishanpur Tiger Reserve, the Trans Sharda Complex of Dudhwa National Park. He is a member of the Wildlife Advisory Board of Uttar Pradesh Government and Honorary Member/ Director of W.W.F. Projects, Uttar Pradesh Chapter. His study on The Cane Field Tigers in Uttar Pradesh and the public service program of Saving Men from Tigers has helped to minimize the man-tiger confrontation in the Terai. The state government has acclaimed it as a path breaking experiment in wildlife conservation. It has earned Rahul many admirers and envious critics. He has written over two hundred articles on wildlife, nature and travel in reputed magazines and newspapers in India and abroad including in United States of America. He is a teacher by profession.

Yogesh Kumar is a wildlife enthusiast and a photographer. His photographs have appeared in several national and international magazines including India Today, Outlook, Kadambini and Friday at Dubai. He has held ten photographic exhibitions. He is a bureaucrat.

Introduction My friends have often asked me as to what possible pleasure and satisfaction I derive by living in the wilds. To them these are dangerous places, most uncompromising and inhospitable where you are forever leaping out of possible death traps into even more dangerous situations. They are full of insecurity, they lack in comfort with no modern means of entertainment like cinema, music or restaurants, have no glamour at all and above all a person has to live in them in extremely unsettling conditions as long as he is there.

The doubts and inquisitiveness are quite understandable. People who have spent a lifetime in cities, and have grown accustomed to the comforts and amenities of urban life, should and must find people like me strange; for I am one who finds contentment and pleasurable distraction in an existence which for the general populace is devoid of even the elementary necessities otherwise considered so essential for a decent way of human life.

The jungle is a place for those who want more meaning out of their lives rather than material comforts. It is a place for those who are able to adapt to its requirement and who can endure hardships and insecurity with a smile and seek an unsurpassable compensation in the thrills, excitement and adventures it has to offer. These adventures are not exactly a series of never-ending escapes, of saving one's own life or the life of someone else, as is generally believed by the uninitiated. They are just unprecedented actions in the field, taken on the spur of the moment, which though very rare, are at the same time an inevitable part of life. I have no hesitation in accepting that in my own case, I have always been fortunate enough to find more than adequate compensation and briefly because of this reason, like few other odd men of my category, I have preferred to spend a good time in the woods at every possible opportunity that came my way.

**Contents and Sample Pages**