Leopards finding it tough to survive poaching

Story/place-Lucknow.


Sep 18, 2010,

LUCKNOW: The unabated leopard deaths are continuing in the country. The anti-poaching cell of Uttarakhand forest department seized two leopard skins on Wednesday night from Chakrata in Dehradun district. In 2010, there have been about 130 leopard deaths. Most of them have been reported from Uttarakhand and UP.

The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), agency which has been helping forest departments in UP and Uttarakhand in seizures and wildlife crime cases, estimates 81 leopard deaths to have been reported from Uttarakhand alone in 2010. The agency's database also shows more than 35 leopards to have been, reportedly, killed by poachers.

According to the figures released by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) in 2008, country did not have more than 11,000 leopards. The number is constantly going down since then. "Leopards live on the periphery of forests and that makes them more vulnerable," said a UP forest official.

Leopard conservation in the country is more or less clubbed with that of tigers, as quite a big number of leopards exist in tiger reserves. But no effort has been made, as yet, to go for a leopard census to arrive at an exact number of leopards existing within and outside the protected areas. Conservationists feel this has affected the systematic protection of leopards.

Leopard faces the severest backlash from humans and grave threat from poachers. The declining prey base and shrinking habitat forces the big cat to venture out of the forest area. When it attacks humans and livestock it faces a backlash. The experts are of the view that ill-will which rises in the human communities in and around forest areas, after leopard attacks them or their cattle, supports poaching and poisoning of leopards.

Leopard is a versatile cat which is not selective about its habitat. Maximum number of leopards are found in UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand forest department also seized a leopard cat skin and a Himalayan black bear gall bladder. Two local persons have been arrested in connection with the seizure. A case under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 has been registered against the accused at Chakrata forest division.

All three species, leopard (Panthera pardus), leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus) are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act. Any crime involving these species is punishable with imprisonment for a term between three to seven years and also with a fine of not less than Rs 10,000.



source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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