Kaziranga: A three year old leopard that was rescued on the night of 30 th June from the Kakojan area of Jorhat district by the local forest officials and staff of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) was released back to the wild yesterday. The leopard, believed to have killed several cows, buffalos and lambs owned by the villagers was trapped by the enraged villagers with a makeshift cage at a village in the Kakojan area.Murali Pai, Regional Manager CWRC said, “The leopard had minor bruises on the face with swollen and puffed eyes”. Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) is a premier facility for wildlife rehabilitation and care for distressed, diseased and injured wild animals of the region and was jointly set up by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Department of Forests, Assam with support from International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in the year 2002.

The leopard was alleged to have sneaked from the nearby Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary which is few kilometers away from the rescue site. The sanctuary is home to a large number of mammals and predators and is located in the Jorhat district of upper Assam. The adjoining areas to the sanctuary are mostly agricultural land used by local communities for sustenance. Due to gradual degradation of the habitat and large scale deforestation of the sanctuary, wild animals in the sanctuary habitually depend on the farms and livestock owned by the villagers.

Predators in the area, mostly leopards frequently attack the livestock, such as cows, buffaloes, goats and lamb giving rise to a major human-animal conflict in the region. In the past, several such incidents of leopard attacks were reported from the areas covering Sibsagar, Jorhat and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam. Elephant herds from neighboring areas have also reportedly raided agricultural crops resulting in huge revenue loss.

Although a scientific data on the exact population of these jungle cats in the sanctuary are not available, researchers working on conflict mitigation suggests that there are more than 30-40 leopards on the prowl in the neighboring tea estates of the area. Scientists consider these predator cats having a great sense of adaptability with their rapidly changing environment. This is pertinent to the fact that their population across India is constantly on the rise. They also have a tremendous amount of breeding capacity under circumstances which other animals find hard to sustain.

According to Dr. Ashraf, Director Wild Rescue, WTI, “Leopards can practically survive on any given circumstance provided they are not poisoned or hunted and there are sufficient food for their survival. Normally leopards do not prefer dense forested parts and are generally seen in open forested areas, even though they could also survive in dense forested areas if the food is available. Hence, they are highly adaptable in nature”.

Referring to a Rapid Action Project (RAP) in Maharastra conducted by Vidya Athreya, Dr. Ashraf said, “In certain sugarcane belts of Maharastra, Leopards are known to subsist in sugarcane fields that come to prey on livestock owned by local villagers. Now this is a clear evidence of their changing nature of habitats. The threat perception here is not of their diminishing numbers but of frequent human-animal conflicts”.

According to Dr. Ashraf, similar problems of man-animal conflicts are also witnessed in the Nagarhole National Park in south India and Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in north India where the conflicting interests of man and wildlife have taken its toil. Water shortages in Bharatpur have resulted in a bitter conflict between the agricultural community and the conservation groups who see that the birds in the sanctuary are severely affected due to the recurrent shortage of water. While the agriculturists in the area refused to release water for the affected portion of the sanctuary.

Human-animal conflicts assume an important significance in India today, in the light of gradual disappearance of forests cover and habitat degradation in most parts of India. Wild animals are increasingly threatened as their habitats are destroyed and are forced to stray on farm lands resulting in the loss of wildlife and human lives.

The rescued leopard was finally released from the CWRC on the night of 6 th July at Nambor Reserve Forest in the Karbi Anglong hill district of Assam, following his adequate rehabilitation at the centre. One only hopes that such incidents do not create panic and fear psychosis on the minds of the people but provides foresight on the part of the local community and the concerned officials for mitigating a long term pragmatic solution to the problem while also keeping in mind the genuine concern and respect for India’s wildlife and the affected population.