Traps snare endangered leopards in Sri Lanka

TWO endangered leopards – one of them a rare black one – have been killed by snares in Sri Lanka in less than a week, sparking calls for authorities to crack down harder on the cruel traps. A third was found alive in a snare and released back to the wild after being tranquilised.

A bloated carcass of a leopard was discovered last Tuesday (2) strangled by a wire snare on a cashew plantation on the edge of a forest reserve in Neluwa, some 145km southeast of the capital Colombo. “It is possible that the trap was set for a sambar deer, but the leopard got caught instead,” a wildlife official from the area said.

A week earlier, a rare black leopard – also known as melanistic because the colour is a pigment condition rather than the mark of a separate species – was found trapped alive in the Nallathanni highlands, but died two days later. The third leopard was found on May 29 at Yatiyantota, another highland nature area, before being released back into the wild.

Although setting snares in national parks and reserves in against the law, they are not illegal elsewhere and farmers often use them to protect crops or catch wild boar.

Sri Lankan conservationist Jayantha Jayewardene said the spate of leopard snaring might be from villagers driven to desperation because the coronavirus lockdown had deprived them of income.

“For about two months these people have not had any work, and without money for food they are setting up snares to catch wild boar,” Jayewardene said.

“What we are facing is a bigger problem – not just a wildlife issue.”