A few weeks ago as I drove through the not so prime looking sectors of Dwarka – New Delhi late at night, my senses were thrown off track by a family of deer that suddenly dashed to cross the road.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking now – the answer is NO, I had been sober that night and not a single drop of alcohol or a single strand of marijuana had been consumed.
The excitement soon faded into worry and then a phase of deep thinking (thanks to my unemployed ass that sat at home all day and gave me enough time worry about global issues) – If there were deer in a bushy patch of land well within the capital city’s urban landscape, how long would they survive ?
How did we miss this struggle of the wild animals as we snatch away their habitat – one apartment complex at a time and rampage their living space with highways and big streets.
I came to realize a depressing fact – the cost of development. I suddenly connected the dots and analyzed that none of the ‘western/developed’ nations have any significant wildlife, especially predators.
Perhaps barring a couple of Scandinavian countries where Polar Bears exist quite close to human habitation, it is unfortunately true that most developed nations now boats of a diverse wildlife albeit only confined ‘wildlife’ in fancy zoological parks.
It’s shameful that the mighty Europe (or the US) does not have any significant leopards, wolves, tigers, jaguars, elephants, rhinos to boast of. What a shame!
The development chart of a nation and the depletion of its prime wildlife is clearly evident – and this holds true for all countries and has nothing to do with lack of space.
It is really ironic that the poorest nations in the world take pride in protecting and maintaining a healthy & vibrant wild life. Even though you cant really blame those guys from eating the damn animals out of hunger !
The countryside of most European countries is blessed with wide tracts of land that seem perfect for sustenance of the wild beasts, however I wonder if it’s the fear that led to their extermination.
As China transitioned from developing to developed in our lifetime, the case of the last tiger being killed was as recent as 2009, just co-incidence ?
And as India leaps ahead into a future that promises a status of a developed economy, the ‘save the tiger’ campaign seems futile in spite of MS Dhoni’s best efforts.
All of these thoughts got me right back to where it started, sector 20 Dwarka – where I spotted those Deer. Are they still alive, did they get hit by a truck , did a migrant jhuggi dweller have a nice meal for weeks…and all of these thoughts got me worried.
To be honest it feels awesome to have deer n stuff running around your house and it validates the fact that as an entity that shares the planet, being closer to nature brings happiness to humans.
A little help from google revealed that I am not the only one who chanced upon this uncommon sight and these tense thoughts:
http://groups.google.com/group/dwarka-residents/browse_thread/thread/86e3baf1adb6f43c/67e68d5bda78383d?show_docid=67e68d5bda78383d&pli=1
Thankfully, 4 days ago I spotted the deer again and this time I had a good look since they decided to venture out during daytime – Darwinian theory at play, evolving deer that get used to traffic!
As the days go by and India progresses, I wonder how many more of these random urban deer,rabbits and eagles will fight a futile battle to make it out alive.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
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