Co-existing with urban wildlife: Sine qua non

I sit on my balcony for some fresh air and watch crows feeding on leftover food, street dogs foraging around the dustbins, feral cats looking for a chance to steal pieces of fish being cooked, geckos taking shelter in houses, ants forming colonies in any nook and cranny they can find, potter wasps and bees building their nests and hives along the ceilings of the car park areas or some have even found themselves a home in my unused shoe shelf kept outside. This makes me think about how we have affected the lives of animals around us. We have by far surpassed the stage where we can question whether urban wildlife can coexist with humans. They are already coexisting. But the topic of coexistence wouldn’t come into deliberation if it were that easy for humans and other life forms to easily cohabit.

In the case of urban wildlife, the organisms that manage to thrive are the best examples of survival of the fittest. They face all the obstacles nature and humans expose them to. Polluting their habitats, cutting down host trees and plants, littering any open space with unimaginable amounts of plastic, chemicals, and add to that improper disposal methods of E-waste. All these and more affect life forms around us in ways we can’t even begin to comprehend. For example, Odonates are significant natural pest controllers. They feed on mosquitos, deer flies, and other insects which are a nuisance. By controlling the pest population, they indirectly contribute to the control of disease outbreak. The release of harmful untreated wastewater into our water bodies adversely affects the odonate population.

The ability to survive in an urban setting may not be the same across all species. A major contributor to this situation is how we as humans perceive and understand our environment. Crows and pigeons are accepted by people whereas a snake, even a harmless one is considered a threat. Snakes are killed in most places even when they do not pose any immediate danger to anyone. Such misconceptions like “all snakes are dangerous” can lead to the needless killing of these reptiles at an irreparable cost to the ecosystem.

Ironically, invasive species possess an added advantage to their survival because they are accepted in urban localities. For example, the blue rock pigeon, a widely distributed species in India is capable of surviving in diverse conditions. From forests to cities it is found aplenty. Despite their superior survival abilities, I have noticed the pigeons being fed by people, especially in parks and gardens. This means one species getting a helping hand in its survival, resulting in them occupying the ecological niche of another species, wiping them out in the process.

Human and urban wildlife coexistence comes with its own terms and conditions. Man decides which species can or cannot coexist with them. This biased school of thought might lead to an excess presence of a particular species and extinction of several other species. It may eventually lead to the local extinction of the originally favoured group as well as creating an ecological imbalance in that area. Ultimately, we will end up creating human spaces without any animals. A strong example of this would be the gradual decline in the bee population over a period of a few decades. Beehives around human spaces are deemed a nuisance and are destroyed making it much harder for them to survive. According to FAO, out of the 100 plus crops that provide 90% of food to 146 countries, 71 crops are pollinated mostly by wild bees, and various other crops pollinated by different insects. This is a direct indication of the impact it will have on our environment if the pollinators go extinct.

There is still hope. With mindful usage of resources and sustainable eco-friendly ways of life, the damage caused to the urban environment can be arrested. Sustainable development is an old term but diligently practicing it, is the need of the hour. For example, a routine household activity that causes excess chemical release into our drainage systems and underground water table would be the use of shampoo and other cleaning products. A simple change from harsh chemicals substituted with organic bio enzymes can help the environment.

With increasing urbanization, we are constantly encroaching into the wildlife territory. Over a period of time, a lush green forest that was home to millions of animals becomes a city full of cement and concrete – home to a few million humans. In an ideal ecosystem, humans would be just a part, one among all the other forms of life that thrive on this planet. But the superiority we have established over everything else is leading the world to an uninhabitable concrete jungle. We can’t possibly eat money and drink power, but that’s all most of us seem to find important. Animals belong anywhere but the urban localities. Every new city is built over the death of millions of animals. The group of organisms that develop an ability to survive the wrath of the human race end up constituting the urban wildlife. Urbanization cannot be completely eliminated, but what we can expunge is being hostile to life forms around us, whose habitat we have made our home. A little empathy and consideration towards the animals that share the same space as us would go a long way in a mutually beneficial cohabitation. We have communities of people living in complete harmony amidst wildlife in their habitats; then human acceptance of urban wildlife around us just needs a smidgeon of understanding and awareness on our part.