With 218 deaths in just 4 months, Indian leopards more endangered than ever
Bengaluru, June 10: A staggering 218 leopards have died in just the first four months of 2019, and this number is more than 40 per cent of the total number of leopards death recorded last year.
Listed at par with tigers under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, the population of leopards faces a serious challenge due to various reasons, prominent among those are man-animal conflicts, availability of prey base and road/train accidents.
Out of 12,000-14,000 Leopards in India, almost 8,000 were reported to be around Tiger Reserves.
The trend of Leopard deaths hasn't been new, with data of Leopard deaths exhibiting a consistent graph. India has witnessed the highest Leopard deaths in the last 5 years.
One leopard died every day in 2018
In 2018, at least one leopard died every day and the cause of the death was either beaten or shot to death, ran over by train or vehicle in road or trapped in water bodies such as the wells, the data by WPSI shows.
Uttarakhand: Leopard kills woman in Rajaji Park
The data released by the Wildlife Protection Society of India suggests that the Leopard deaths have increased over the years. While we mull over statistics of Leopard deaths in India, one thing is quite clear that is, Leopards are not our primary concern.
Poaching
One
of
the
biggest
concerns
for
conservationists
all
across
the
globe,
poaching
has
always
been
the
biggest
challenge
to
their
conservation
efforts.
Although
an
illegal
activity,
poaching
has
been
prominent
in
forest
covers
throughout
the
area.
For
the
year
2018,
155
Leopards
have
either
been
hunted
or
poached
across
India.
Low
conviction
rate
The
Wildlife
Protection
Act
1972
prohibits
the
killing
of
endangered
animals
and
it
is
a
punishable
offence.
However,
the
low
conviction
rate
in
poaching
cases
has
ensured
that
the
act
is
deemed
lenient.
The
inefficient
prosecution
added
with
the
insensitivity
of
authorities
to
act
on
it
have
meant
that
poachers
roam
free.
Accident
Accidents
have
been
one
of
the
deadliest
reasons
for
Leopard
deaths
in
India.
In
just
2018
alone
74
Leopards
lost
their
lives
because
of
accidents.
Unlike
usual
road
accidents,
these
accidents
can
be
stopped
by
putting
stringent
traffic
laws.
Most
of
these
accidents
happen
inside
National
Parks
and
Wildlife
sanctuaries.
Attacks
by
villagers
Wildlife
conservation
depends
a
lot
on
the
cooperation
of
local
villages
around
the
parks
and
sanctuaries.
The
villagers
act
as
eyes
and
ears
of
the
forest
authorities.
Also,
with
the
help
of
local
villagers,
authorities
can
deter
poachers.
However,
there
has
been
one
hurdle,
which
has
been
causing
problems
for
wildlife
conservationists.
The
hurdle
is
human-animal
conflicts.
From
year
2011-2017,
there
has
been
more
than
2
lakhs
human-animal
conflicts
in
just
Maharashtra
alone.