Recent incidents of tigers and leopards straying into residential areas across Gujarat, Pune and Rajasthan have sparked public anxiety, social-media frenzy and demands for tighter “animal control.” But before we blame the big cats, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: these animals are not intruding into our world — we are shrinking theirs. Their presence in our streets is not a coincidence; it is a cry for ecological space in a landscape being rapidly dismantled without foresight.
Across India’s western and central belt, natural corridors that once allowed wild cats to move freely between forest patches have been severed by highways, mines, resorts, farmhouses and unplanned real-estate expansion. Every time a patch of scrubland, dry forest, ravine, grassland or riverine belt is levelled, we push predators into tighter corners. Citizens see an unexpected leopard outside a housing complex; the leopard sees the last available path to water or prey.
What makes the situation worse is the casual, sometimes cavalier approach of government agencies toward forest protection. Clearances are granted without ecological intelligence, forest land is routinely diverted for non-forest use, and environmental safeguards often remain paperwork formalities rather than serious filters. All limbs of governance — executive, legislative and regulatory — have allowed fragmentation to accelerate. The result is brutal and predictable: not only do tigers and leopards lose territory, but their prey base collapses. Deer, wild boar, antelope and nilgai, already squeezed by habitat loss, disappear from degraded patches, forcing predators to wander farther and more dangerously.
Layered on top of this ecological unraveling is India’s frenetic expansion of expressways and high-speed highways. Without properly planned wildlife underpasses, overpasses, fencing and buffer zones, these roads have become lethal traps. It is no longer unusual to find leopards, hyenas or deer attempting to cross these corridors — and too often getting struck by fast-moving vehicles. These are not accidents; they are failures of planning, where infrastructure is designed in isolation from ecological realities.
If we continue on this trajectory, human-wildlife conflict will not just rise — it will become chronic. And each incident will be unfairly framed as a “dangerous animal sighting,” ignoring the fact that governance failures set the stage for these encounters.
What Must Change
First, India must urgently demarcate and legally notify wildlife corridors that cannot be redrawn by local political or commercial pressures. These corridors should be mapped using scientific datasets and protected with the same seriousness as forest land.
Second, the environmental clearance regime needs a fundamental clean-up. Independent, peer-reviewed ecological impact assessments must replace the current tokenistic, consultant-driven system. Accountability for false reporting or negligent approvals must be personal, not institutional.
Third, highways and expressways intersecting forested landscapes must incorporate wildlife crossings as mandatory infrastructure — not optional “green features.” Existing high-risk segments must be retrofitted, just as we retrofit roads for safety hazards.
Fourth, habitat restoration must be prioritised. India has neglected scrublands and grasslands for decades, often mislabelling them as “wastelands.” These ecosystems are essential for sustaining prey species, and in turn, for reducing predator movement into human areas.
Fifth, real-estate approvals around forest edges must be frozen and re-evaluated. No master plan can justify ecological suicide.
And finally, public awareness must shift from fear to understanding. Citizens need transparent channels for reporting wildlife sightings, supported by trained rapid-response teams that handle conflict professionally, not reactively.
The presence of a leopard in an apartment complex lane or a tiger caught on CCTV outside a village is not a failure of wildlife — it is a mirror held up to our planning, policies and priorities. If we want safety for humans, we must first ensure dignity and habitat security for the animals that have lived in these landscapes far longer than we have. The question is not whether wildlife is straying into human spaces; it is whether India is willing to stop erasing the spaces they depend on