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In conflict

Ian Sample

More and more wild animals are turning on humans.

THE WALL around the Virungas National Park in Rwanda is far from finished, but already it stretches for 100 km. Every day it grows as villagers add volcanic rock to the perimeter. With luck, the wall will bring calm to the region. Firstly, it will block the way for the elephants, buffalo, and even mountain gorillas that occasionally launch raids on the farms that have sprung up on the park's edge. But it will also keep the rapidly expanding human population from encroaching further into the parkland, a process that has seen animal attacks on humans soar in recent decades.

Around the world, animals are increasingly coming into conflict with humans. Florida is on the alert after three fatal alligator attacks in less than a week. Elsewhere, particularly in the developing world, wild animal attacks on humans are also rising, although they rarely achieve such attention.

Some of the worst tales come from Bangladesh, where tigers have been reported to attack and often kill humans in double figures each year. But last year, the focus shifted to Tanzania. A survey by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that lions were killing some 100 people every year. Most were farmers, sleeping in their fields to deter other animals that might be tempted to attack their livestock.

There are two main reasons for the rise in what researchers call "human-animal conflict," a phrase that encompasses killings, maulings, and crop raiding. One is the success of conservation efforts. Particularly in Europe, efforts to protect the lynx and bear have produced such a recovery in numbers that they are now more likely to run into humans. More significantly, dangerous animals' habitats — and so their food sources — are being destroyed as humans move into them. In Tanzania, where the human population rose by 50 per cent between 1988 and 2002, people have expanded into wildlife areas and depleted the lions' prey — zebra and impala.

Simon Thirgood, a conservationist at the Macaulay Institute and co-editor of the 2005 book People and Wildlife: Conflict or Coexistence, says that regions such as the Serengeti are stark examples of how recovering animal populations come up against booming human communities, leading to injuries and killings. Animal attacks have become so popular a research area, Mr. Thirgood says, that it can be hard to tell if apparent increases in attacks are real trends or were merely unnoticed before. In the developing world, the main cause of conflict may be the desire for the same things — food, water, and shelter. But other factors are coming in to play in the developed world — notably, an increase in the popularity of more extreme pursuits.

This week, a Canadian mountain-biker was mauled by a black bear as he rode through the Rockies near Banff, Alberta. The 41-year-old suffered tear wounds to his chest but survived. The bear was still on the scene and was shot.

In South Africa, a cage-diving craze, in which divers plunge into a murk of sea water and fish entrails, slopped overboard to attract great white sharks, has been blamed for the rise in shark attacks around the Cape.

Mr. Thirgood says that animal attacks are likely to increase as competition for territory intensifies. But he adds that it is important to keep the dangers in perspective. "Of course it's awful for those affected," he says, "but the number of people being killed by large animals is utterly trivial compared with those dying from disease, famine and war."

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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