From Dog Eaters to Man Eaters!!!

[SMJ]

Hello Everyone,
A very interesting show on discovery caught my attention a couple of days ago. The show simply entitled "Man eaters" on discovery channel brought about a common scientific discovery I was unaware of-maybe some of you in this forum would be aware of it.
Essentially it speaks of a disease afflicting big cats worldwide with what is known as 'CDV" or Canine Distemper Virus - its a condition acquired through bodily fluids and is mostly passed on to big cats from preying on domestic dogs . CDV like rabies, it seems is not just present in dogs but other animals such as racoon s, skunks etc. However most cases of this virus are passed on to the big cats through preying on domestic dogs! CDV it has been observed is a large and alarming cause of demise of the big cats worldwide in a lot of cases. However if it does survive, it sadly puts these animals in a "zombie" state causing them to lose all fear of mankind, an unfortunate stepping stone to graduating into man eaters!! Here are some links I found on google on big cats and CDV.

http://www.wildlifevetsinternational.or ... g-disease/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/1 ... l?ir=India


It would be very interesting if anyone could share more on this!

[kshitij]

This is as scary as it is sad. From the local perspective, the big cats present in green cover within and along Mumbai are known to regularly feed on the strays. The cases of human attacks have been extremely rare. If the leopards were to have the mentioned symptoms of CDV, it will only result in a conflict that will not end well for the cats. Hope the authorities take note and appropriate preventive measures are taken.

[SMJ]

It seems that leopard attacks in Mumbai have apparently been on the rise since 2006. Of course, the primary reasons for this would habitat loss due to ever increasing encroachments thus pushing the leopard populations into ever decreasing territories. The scary part however is that due to these encroachments the population of the domestic dog has shot up drastically and according to wildlife experts a lot of the leopards living in the park have only ever preyed on domestic animals (mainly dogs) having never hunted their natural prey at all in some cases! I completely agree with you that if the powers that be don't wake up these facts very soon we would either stand to lose the few of these beautiful animals we have left to CDV or the escalation of the man animal conflict brought on by CDV afflicted cats could become exponential with disastrous results. Either ways preventative measures, as you mentioned are needed and needed very soon!

[prashantsingh]

Not sure about big cats in India. But I have seen videos of African lions suffering from the disease . It has been in Africa for quite some time now.

[SMJ]

Prashant Singhji yes quite a bit of this program was focused on lion populations in East Africa being decimated due to CDV