Kombukuthy, a village on the eastern high-ranges of Kottayam, is a tucked-away gem. Around 20 km south of Mundakkayam — the gateway to the Western Ghats — this small settlement of over 300 families and a few shops extends up to the edge of a dense forest on three sides and an endless expanse of rubber trees on the north.
For decades, the villagers have been congregating on the plantation fringes everyday around 5 a.m. Equipped with headlights, they will then slip into the woods for latex tapping and return by noon. Life here is so connected to the plantations that Kombukuthy is best known as the entry point to one of the largest colonial-age rubber estates in Kerala.
But the peace and quiet of this sparsely populated corner of Kottayam has been shattered of late. A leopard, which entered the village presumably from the adjoining Sabarimala forests a couple of months ago, has feasted on its livestock and pets.
As per villagers’ accounts, over 40 pet dogs and some 15 cattle, mostly calves, have gone missing from the village so far. The villagers fear that the animal will eventually attack humans, especially children.
“Rarely does a dog bark here these days as most them have either been killed by the leopard or gone missing. And now a days, no one emerges out of their homes till 6.30 a.m.,” says Sain K.R., a local resident. The 33-year-old, an employee of a cooperative bank at Koruthodu, the local panchayat, was one of the first villagers to spot the animal. “It crossed my path when I was riding the motorcycle around 10 p.m. one night and disappeared into the woods,” he recalled.
Deserted road
Ever since the animal made its first appearance at the village, the lone road to Kombukuthy that meanders through a forest, becomes deserted as early as 7.10 p.m. — the time when the last bus from Mundakkayam reaches the village. The only vehicles that ply the road afterwards belong to the Forest department.
As the predator's contact with humans increases, fear is spreading across more parts of the hill tracts. The settlements on the other side of the plantation, which fall in Idukki district, too have reported attacks on livestock by a leopard.
“People have been unable to go to the plantations in the early hours, which will affect their work output in the long run,” said Sunil Surendran, a social activist. Setting up high-mast lights could help address the villagers’ concerns to a great extent, he said.
The forest officials, meanwhile, have been on their toes to ward off the rising attacks and have placed a cage inside the plantation, besides camera traps at several locations. The animal , however, is yet to be traced. “It is stealthy and cunning, and the speed at which it attacks, often warps imaginations,” said a senior forest official.
Amidst crop raids
Sandhya Vinod, president of the Koruthodu grama panchayat, said the leopard episode came amidst the recurring crop raids by wild elephants. “The straying of animals could be prevented up to an extent by establishing solar fencing. The maintenance of these fencing, however, have been difficult in the absence of sufficient funds and non-inclusion of the solar fencing works in the rural employment guarantee programme,” she said.
