‘Leopards have developed taste for human flesh’
DEHRADUN: Leopards in Uttarakhand like human flesh but those in West Bengal attack only if someone trespasses their territory, a government project tracking habits of the big cats has found.
The Wildlife Institute of India’s project that started in Pauri district in Uttarakhand and Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts of West Bengal in 2016 is interesting considering there are 10,000 to 14,000 leopards with many living in close vicinity of humans leading to increase in their conflict with humans.
The two states were selected as they reported a high number of leopard and human casualties every year.
“In Pauri, leopards are predating on humans. But, in West Bengal they are provoked which means that unless humans trespass their habitat, they are not harmed,” said Dipanjan Naha, the principal investigator of the project at WII while talking to Hindustan Times.
In Uttarakhand, over 600 people have been killed and 3,100 have been injured in leopard attacks since the formation of the state in the year 2000. In West Bengal, the number is higher as per the study.
The two districts reported an average of 70 deaths and injuries yearly which is 15 deaths and injuries in Pauri.
In Uttarakhand, over 150 leopards have been declared man-eaters since state formation of which nearly 40 were captured and about the same number was shot dead.
The findings were shared at a national seminar on wildlife in Dehradun earlier this week.
The research that will conclude in 2019 will also provide recommendations to both state governments for mitigating the conflict.
“Declaring man-eaters is not a long-term solution to the conflict in Uttarakhand. If one man-eater is eliminated, the other takes its place,” the WII official said.