The leopardess that was found injured in Chamundi Hills and shifted to Bannerghatta for treatment, has been identified as CML -04 based on camera trap images and had been sighted 41 times during camera trapping exercise since the last few years.
Senior scientist Sanjay Gubbi of Nature Conservation Foundation said that they had carried camera trapping at Chamundi Hills in 2015, 2017 and 2019. They analysed the pictures of the injured leopard with the images in their database and it turned out to be CML-04 which incidentally had appeared in their camera-trap images during all the three years.
CML-04 was captured 41 times in the camera traps placed near Gowrishankar Nagar at the Chamundi foothills, Hosahundi, Parushanayakanakere, Chamundipura, Rajendravilas Palace and other locations.
Mr. Gubbi said the same leopardess was also camera-trapped in 2017 with a cub of about 3 to 4 months and based on its body size it is estimated to be at least 10 years old.
Chamundi Hills is a natural habitat for leopards but their population is dwindling due to unnatural removal and captures that takes place when the Forest Department steps into mollify the local villagers who sight them. Between 2016 and 2019, nearly 50 leopards were caught and relocated following complaints by the villagers.
Chamundi Hills is a reserve forest and has a natural prey base to sustain at least 6 to 7 leopards . It is not an island ecosystem and is linked to paddy and sugaracane fields that connect to the adjoining forests and hence is an ideal habitat for leopards to thrive.
But there are also concerns that the growing urbanisation atop the Chamundi Hills with a slew of tourist facilities and parking lot that has come up on the top, and rapid growth of residential areas at the bottom will squeeze out the leopards in due course. Mr. Gubbi said Chamundi Hills is now ensconced on three sides by human habitation and residential area and the only link to the hinterland was on the Lalitadrinagar side. But the gap here too is fast closing.
Experts say what is happening to leopards at Chamundi Hills is also emblematic of what is happening to their population in other areas. In the recently released report by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Karnataka has the second highest number of leopards in the country at 1,783, after Madhya Pradesh. But this was based on the study of tiger landscapes and did not cover places which are outside the tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuary. Another comprehensive study by Sanjay Gubbi and his team pegged the leopard population in the State at around 2,500.
