Leopard population on a downward slide in Kerala

Leopard population on a downward slide in Kerala

Kerala has been witnessing a considerable decline in its leopard population as they faced the wrath of rapid development, habitat loss, and retaliatory killing by humans.

Presenting a dismal picture of the big cat population in the State, the fifth cycle of leopard population estimation found the population to have fallen from 650 (with a standard error of 28) in 2018 to 570 (with a standard error of 76) in 2022.

The Status of Leopards in India 2022, jointly prepared by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India, also detected 63% of leopards to live outside the protected areas in the State and recorded a surge in the number of human-wildlife cases in the Western Ghats landscape including several parts of Kerala.

The study sampled ten sites using camera traps that yielded 3,709 photo-captures of 270 individual leopards. While Periyar Tiger Reserve showed an increase in leopard population, Wayanad, and Malayattoor regions experienced a significant decrease.

Eravikulam National Park, Konni, Ranni, and Vazhachal exhibited consistently low leopard densities, according to the report.

The number of human-wildlife conflict cases rose from 6,022 in 2015-16 to 10,036 in 2021-22.

While the northern districts from Kasaragod to Thrissur witnessed the most number of cases, the major conflict-prone area was identified as Wayanad North division, followed by Kannur, and Wayanad South division. The least number of incidents were reported from Parambikulam division.