Attention mostly on tigers, leopard poaching rises

BHOPAL: Fifty-six leopards have been found dead in Madhya Pradesh in the first eight months of this year, with nearly half of them killed by poachers, according to data by the forest department, which shows that the deaths are higher than the annual average of the state in the last five years.

In the past five years, 255 leopards were found dead in the state, with an average of 51 deaths a year. Of these, 53 were killed in accidents, 29 in territorial fights and 75 died of natural causes.

In 2021, 26 leopard carcasses — or 46% — were found with whiskers, teeth and claws missing — an indication that poachers may be catering to a local market that believes in occult practices. In the last five years, poaching-related deaths were a little over 38% (98 of the 255).

Senior forest officials said a special task force (STF) of the forest department has arrested more than 45 people in the past eight months for allegedly killing the big cats by electrocution. In the last five years, 110 people were arrested on similar charges.

A senior STF officer said on condition of anonymity that the poachers come from the villages that occupy the forest tracts in the state and sell leopard body parts as that of young tigers. “The animals are killed by using a live wire. They then sell the body parts to people who believe in the occult for anywhere between ₹10,000 to ₹2 lakh, depending on the ritual conducted,” the officer said.

Activists believe the spotted animal isn’t getting enough attention as the primary focus by the forest department is conservation of tigers, the national animal.

“Leopards are being killed in large numbers but the forest department is not paying any attention as their focus is on tiger conservation only. That’s why they are not organising any special programmes for saving leopards,” said Ashu Agrawal, a Jabalpur-based environmental activist.

Another wildlife activist Ajay Dubey, of the Prayatna Environmental Action Group, said he had written many letters to the forest department on this to no avail. “I even met forest officials regarding this, but the department said leopard deaths are not a matter of concern because MP has almost 40% of the country’s total population of this animal. But they should understand that with so many of them being killed for occult practices, commercial poachers will head towards the state soon,” said Dubey.

According to a 2018 report titled ‘Status of Leopards in India’, there were 3,421 leopards in Madhya Pradesh, almost double of Karnataka, the state with the second highest (1,783) population of leopards in India .

State forest officials dismissed the allegations on laxity about conservation of leopards and said there was no cause for alarm. “We are not holding any separate campaigns for the conservation of leopards because the population is not under threat and they are in large numbers in MP. But as a department, we are taking care of every animal and that is why poachers have been arrested by STF,” said Alok Kumar, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), MP.

“Most leopard deaths are happening due to electrocution. Many a time villagers lay live wire traps for wild boars and spotted deer, but leopards and tigers get electrocuted. We are arresting them and also creating awareness among villagers,” Kumar added.

Leopard is an endangered specie protected under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.