Leopard habitats and wild prey base outside protected areas eroding: Study
Context: Quarrying outside protected areas is a major threat to leopard habitat.
- Survey also shows that natural habitats such as forests and rocky outcrops, and presence of large wild prey are extremely important for leopard presence
- Gradual erosion of large wild prey outside protected areas (PAs) has forced leopards to switch to livestock adding to human-leopard conflict across the States.
- The loss of prey base is due to poaching, habitat destruction (outside protected areas) and disturbance due to mining, quarrying, linear projects.
- Protecting natural wild prey can be a key factor in reducing human-leopard conflict.
- Depletion of wild prey base such as spotted deer, sambar and other wild animals and forcing leopards to target livestock
- Many leopard habitats outside the protected areas face severe threat from quarrying, mining, infrastructure development, and loss of wild prey to poaching.
- “If leopards are to survive outside protected areas, there is a need to scientifically assessed zoning where some areas have to be prioritized for leopard conservation.
- Despite leopards being widespread and their numbers being reasonably high in the country, there is severe lack of scientific data on their distribution and population especially outside protected areas.
- The highest presence of leopards was found in grids that have natural habitats and consisted of large wild prey such as chital, sambar, four-horned antelope, barking deer, wild pig and others.
Leopard
- It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range.
- Leopards are hunted illegally, and their body parts are smuggled in the wildlife trade for medicinal practices and decoration.
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