WORKING in the bamboo forests of Mizoram, north-east India, isn鈥檛 easy. Alongside torrential monsoons and poachers, there are armed separatist groups to contend with. Yet independent wildlife biologist , currently funded by UK conservation charity the Rufford Foundation, spent months at a time here to deploy and maintain in an effort to spot the country鈥檚 most elusive cats. Her persistence paid off: she produced the first ever estimate of the marbled cat population in continental Asia and discovered one of its highest recorded densities of clouded leopards.
Her three-year study, with zoologist at the University of Oxford, involved combing the thick jungle of the , which borders Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is a protected park 鈥� on paper, at least 鈥� but Dampa is a tiger refuge where she found scant evidence of tigers. Singh鈥檚 results suggest that the lack of bigger cats has allowed both marbled cats and clouded leopards to spend more time on the ground and grow in numbers 鈥� her estimates put both populations at about five individuals per 100 square kilometres.
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Gunmen regularly traverse the forest. While Singh was there in 2015, one armed group kidnapped 22 local people who were building a road in the park, and held them hostage until a ransom was reportedly paid. Along with images of cats, Singh鈥檚 cameras , and the cameras themselves were routinely stolen.
India鈥檚 Border Security Force, police and forest guards patrol here, but are often unpaid for months, not to mention outgunned. Despite the dangers, for many nights Singh slept on the forest floor or in caves, unarmed and escorted by several young forest guards.
Dampa鈥檚 instability has in a sense guarded the cats, keeping outsiders out, though Singh says the pressure on them now comes from the people living in the area.
Globally, the clouded leopard is classified as . Despite her high estimate of the numbers of these animals in north-east India, Singh believes her work to raise awareness of the clouded leopard has prompted the Indian government to , one of 21 animals in India thought to be on the brink of extinction.
What is it like working in the field, and in such a dangerous environment?
For those who enjoy being outdoors, being in the field is the best part of our jobs. Waking up to a dawn chorus of birds, the excitement of sighting animals all day and being constantly challenged by a diversity of life is an incredible experience. Working in areas where armed groups operate means you must be vigilant at all times. When one spends months living like this, the reality of dangers becomes clear: snakes and elephants were the least of our worries.
Sometimes it is a challenge to explain your motives for being in such regions. I have had bureaucrats digging for my 鈥渦lterior motive鈥� for working in a challenging landscape. Saying 鈥渇or the love of it鈥� doesn鈥檛 qualify as a satisfactory answer at such times.
What is the scariest thing that happened while you were in the field?
The last kidnapping happened while I was working there. Multiple tribes merge in this landscape, which is also along the border with Bangladesh. Many of the elements responsible for the kidnapping are still around, but I want to continue working in this landscape, to make a difference on the ground in terms of increasing patrolling activities, ensuring that the local communities have employment or opportunities so they don鈥檛 have to operate the way they are right now.
鈥淭he danger became clear: snakes and elephants were the least of our worries鈥�
How are the local communities living?
People in this region tend to be nomadic in nature, and they don鈥檛 have political security. I鈥檓 trying to focus on the wildlife part, but I鈥檓 hoping we will be able to find other people to help improve the lives of the local communities. It鈥檚 very hard for me to tell someone not to go into the forest and kill an animal. People say: 鈥淚f we cannot kill animals, how are we going to feed our children? We can鈥檛 afford to buy vegetables and meat from the market. We don鈥檛 have any jobs, we don鈥檛 have any money.鈥� It鈥檚 a difficult situation to be in.
As a scientist, what keeps you in this area?
To come across a patch of forest like this, so rich in biodiversity, is unusual. Someone has to see what such unstable areas hold. Deforestation may not be that high here, but the flip side is there is little monitoring or patrolling, and species could be suffering. For example, I didn鈥檛 find any tigers or leopards 鈥� other than clouded leopards 鈥� in my camera traps, and just one elephant. It looks like something is selectively happening to these larger animals, and some people are hunting to support their family. We have to work to help people in these landscapes co-exist peacefully with wildlife, to see biodiversity as a benefit to them. It鈥檚 important to me that species are protected and that this landscape will eventually be known for its clouded leopards, not for its instability.
What attracted you to this line of work?
I grew up on a farm in a semi-arid part of north-west India, spending much of my time interacting with animals 鈥� some wild, most domesticated. When I was 5, a relative visited who was collecting data for his doctoral study on the wolf. He鈥檚 now a well-known scientist at the and he allowed me to accompany him in the field. I wanted to do what he did.
How do you pick animals to study, and is it easier to do research on charismatic species?
It is true that it is easier to find funding and collaborators interested in cats and tropical forests. But my first study, on the striped hyena, was dictated entirely by a true interest, not practical considerations. In conversations with my father, I realised hyenas used to occur in areas around our home but had disappeared. They were never persecuted but no one seemed to care about their disappearance either. I chose to study them.
After six months of back-breaking fieldwork, I realised that research requires being practical. Working on nocturnal, territorial species in human-dominated landscapes using camera traps that are easily stolen means limited data. This was a problem.
Working on forest-dependent cats in north-east India is no easier. The landscape throws up challenges on all fronts: climatic, geographical, political and social.
What is the biggest misconception about your work?
We are almost always mistaken for being wildlife photographers or TV show hosts for Nat Geo, Discovery or Animal Planet. I鈥檝e never been able to successfully explain to a layperson what work I do and how that will benefit society. Humans always look for factors that will help their own lives improve, not those of other species.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淟eopard finder with her life on the line鈥�
