Leopards are among the most neglected big cats in India: Here's why
New Delhi, Jan 20: When it comes to the poaching of endangered species, elephants, tigers and rhinos tend to be in the limelight. But a new report sets out to plug the information gap on a different species that is imperiled by a tide of demand related to rising affluence in Asia: leopards.
Factors like loss of habitat, a shrinking prey base, man-animal conflict, and organized poaching and poisoning of the animal are leading to the decimation of the leopard population. Further, lack of awareness about the ecological crisis and poorly managed forests are also responsible for a decline in their numbers.
According to data given by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change during the winter session of Parliament, 260 leopards were poached between 2015 and 2018 with 66 big cats falling prey in 2018 alone. The number of poaching incidents was 47 in 2017.
Untrained forest officials and delayed compensation to victims of big cat attacks are some of the reasons for the steep rise of 40 percent rise in leopard poaching cases last year in comparison to 2017, wildlife experts say.
Revenge killing
"Humans poach leopards in retaliation to attacks on their livestock and the tedious process of compensating for their loss make them take law in their own hands for a quick solution. The process of compensation needs to be expedited to stop this revenge killing," the NTCA official.
Expressing a similar concern over the spiralling instances of leopard poaching, an official of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) said human-wildlife conflict is the concentrated in agricultural regions where human population growth begins to encroach on animal territory.
"In such situations, wildlife causes destruction to crops, livestock, infrastructure and human lives. Thus, to minimise the human reaction against wild animals, effective mechanism to cover the loss and immediate support in the form of compensation is required," said Tilotama Verma, Additional Director of WCCB.
Delayed compensation
While
the
NTCA
and
WCCB
called
for
effective
resolution
of
the
conflict
by
streamlining
the
process
of
compensating
the
victims
in
case
of
attacks,
environment
activist
Gaurav
Bansal
said
it
was
the
forest
staff
crunch,
lack
of
training
and
arms
for
officials
that
are
some
of
the
reasons
behind
the
rise
in
poaching
incidents.
"While
the
poachers
have
guns,
the
forest
officers
have
sticks,
which
are
not
enough
to
face
them,"
Bansal,
also
a
lawyer,
said.
Untrained forest staff
The view was shared by the NTCA official who said that good quality arms must be provided to the forest officials by the respective state governments.
"Weapons for forest officials are being procured in some states like Assam. There have INSAS rifles (Indian Small Arms System) but there is a lack of regular supply of good quality ammunition to them. The state governments must provide proper arms to forest officials to tackle the problem," the official said.
According to the WCCB official, awareness programmes and sensitisation of communities living around forests can reduce leopard poaching.
"Leopards
are
directly
poached
for
their
body
parts
which
are
sold
internationally
for
medicinal
value
and
decoration.
Increased
awareness
on
wildlife,
its
role
in
maintaining
healthy
ecosystems
and
the
immorality
of
driving
another
species
to
extinction
will
definitely
help
address
issues
of
poaching
of
wild
animals,"
Verma
said.
The
official
also
held
practices
like
witchcraft
and
black
magic
by
poor
and
illiterate
communities
responsible
for
poaching
of
the
big
cats.
They
also
emphasised
on
providing
proper
training
to
the
frontline
staff
of
forest
and
police
on
the
basics
of
wildlife
law
and
identification
of
wildlife
species.
Minister
of
State
for
Environment,
Forests
and
Climate
Change
Mahesh
Sharma
had
said
the
law
enforcement
authorities
in
states
maintain
strict
vigil
against
poaching
of
wild
animals
including
leopards.
According to state-wise date provided by the minister on leopard poaching, Uttarakhand was found with the maximum cases of 15 followed by Madhya Pradesh which had 13 poaching incidents in 2018.
There are no reliable estimates of how many leopards exist in India. The animals are notoriously wary of humans and are spread out over large areas, so tracking their numbers is difficult.
Leopard poaching is an offence under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 which entails up to seven-year imprisonment with a minimum of Rs 25,000 fine. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which categorises leopards as "near threatened" on its red list of species, says that leopard populations have become extinct in some parts of the world and dwindled to tiny numbers in others.