Maharashtra saw the second-most leopard deaths (90) in the country in 2018, while Uttarakhand topped the list with 93 deaths, according to the year-end data collated by a Delhi-based wildlife group, Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

There are 12,000 to 14,000 leopards across India, according to a 2016 census and the animal is listed as a schedule 1 species. At 460, India saw most leopard deaths in the past five years in 2018. While Rajasthan recorded 46 deaths, Madhya Pradesh saw 37, Uttar Pradesh 27, Karnataka 24 and Himachal Pradesh 23. India had recorded 431 deaths in 2017, 440 in 2016, 399 in 2015 and 331 in 2014.

WPSI said the rise in deaths can be attributed to growing conflicts and accidents as a result of linear infrastructure projects. The group collates data from their field representatives and different state forests departments.

“Cases of poaching, road accidents and human animal conflict show how increased urbanisation is destroying the habitat of leopards,” said Tito Joseph, programme coordinator, WPSI.

“When conflicts between big cats and human beings happen, the former stands to lose,” said Anish Andheria, president, Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Data submitted in Lok Sabha by the union environment ministry on Friday showed 260 leopards were poached between 2015 and 2018 (up to October) calling for better protection of the species.

“Contrary to popular belief, their highly adaptable nature brings them close to humans, which in turn puts their own lives in jeopardy,” said Joseph.

Ministry officials said while issues related to poaching were being addressed by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB); the ministry’s focus was to immediately reduce rail, road accidents and human-leopard conflict. “It has been decided that no new road or railway line proposal will be designed without implementing mitigation measures such as underpasses, overpasses etc.,” said MS Negi, additional director general of forests, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). “To avoid conflict, states will prepare action plans collating guidelines to be followed around protected areas based on scientific inputs from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.”

“The exact rise needs to be analysed based on long term research. On-ground training and sensitisation efforts for enforcement agencies right from our borders to individual states and union territories are regularly taking place. This is still insufficient as we need to excel in specialised investigation and develop a robust intelligence network,” said Tilottama Varma, additional director, WCCB.

WCCB released an advisory to all state forest departments in October exclusively for leopard deaths, drawing attention to constituting special task force teams similar to tiger conservation.

“While measures are being contemplated to address leopard deaths, it is lacking in implementation. Conservation and development can be balanced only if mitigation measures are considered. It has taken a while for various ministries to realise this,” said VB Mathur, director, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun. “We need to do a lot more to protect our leopard population, whether through enforcement, conservation, anti-poaching activities, or habitat conservation. Such activities are hardly taking place at the moment,” Saket Badola, head, TRAFFIC India, a wildlife trade monitoring group.

First Published: Dec 17, 2018 00:29 IST