The number of leopards has grown in Uttarakhand since 2015, reveals the population estimates of the felines released on Friday. This comes a week after tiger numbers were shared for Uttarakhand and other states. The data released by the forest department suggests leopard population estimates stand at 3,115 in Uttarakhand.
The last estimates for 2015 counted 2,335 leopards in the Himalayan state. In mathematical terms, the growth has been around 29% in the past eight years. The figures are critical since Uttarakhand is one of the states that witnesses frequent man-leopard conflicts.
Data collected by the forest department underlines that between January 2000 and June 2023, a total of 508 people were killed in leopard attacks and more than 1,800 were injured. However, a total of 1,658 leopard deaths were also reported from June 2001 to date, many due to accidents or mutual fights, among other reasons.
Chief wildlife warden Samir Sinha expressed concern about the growing incidents of conflict. “The leopard population estimates will help us understand the problem areas and we will try to mitigate the situation,” he told News18.
Elaborating on the methodology, Sinha said the estimation was conducted jointly by the Wildlife Institute of India and the forest department. The team used trap cameras and kept a record of the physical sightings.
Of late, on the growing man-leopard conflict, the experts have been divided on whether the urban population is venturing close to forest areas or the growing number of leopards is forcing them to move close to human habitations for food.
Anup Sah, an expert on the big cats and member of the state wildlife board, feels it is urbanisation that has to be blamed for conflicts. “Saving human lives is a concern, at the same time, and much more challenging, as far as saving leopards and tigers are concerned,” he said.