PM Modi cheers over 60% jump in leopard population

There were at least 12,852 leopards in the country in 2018 compared to 7,910 leopards estimated in 2014 according to the union environment ministry’s ‘Status of Leopards in India 2018’ report released on Monday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated those working on the conservation of leopards on Tuesday morning for the leopard estimation results, which showed a 60% jump in their numbers since 2014.

Representational photo.

“Great news! After lions and tigers, the leopard population increases. Congratulations to all those who are working towards animal conservation. We have to keep up these efforts and ensure our animals live in safe habitats,” he tweeted.

The union environment ministry said on Monday there has been over 60% increase in population of leopards in India since 2014. There were at least 12,852 leopards in the country in 2018 compared to 7,910 leopards estimated in 2014 according to the ministry’s ‘Status of Leopards in India 2018’ report released on Monday.

Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of leopards—3,421, followed by Karnataka—1,783, and Maharashtra—1,690. The leopard population has increased in all states of central India when compared to previous estimates of 2014.

According to the report, central India and Eastern Ghats (stretching across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and Northern Telangana) were found to have 8,071 leopards. The Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains landscape extending from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh to parts of Bihar recorded 1,253 leopards. In the Western Ghats, which includes protected areas in Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 3,387 leopards were recorded, while only 141 were estimated in the northeastern hills and Brahmaputra plains.

The estimation exercise hasn’t included other leopard-occupied areas such as non-forested habitats (coffee and tea plantations), higher elevations in the Himalayas, arid landscapes and a majority of the northeastern landscape. “The population estimation should be considered as the minimum number of leopards in each of the landscapes,” the report cautioned.

But independent experts said the numbers don’t capture the plight of the species in India, and they may be inflated because of the increase in area of study compared to 2014.

“Based on an ever-increasing number of reported leopard deaths over the past decade due to a combination of factors such as roadkills, poisoning, electrocution and persecution by humans, the leopard population should at best have remained stable, if not decreased, since 2014. Such a drastic increase in the population of a large carnivore (apex predator) within such a narrow time period, and that too in a constantly deteriorating habitat, is ecologically impossible. Since the report does not mention anything about the difference in sampled area between 2014 and 2018, one can safely attribute the increase to a gross underestimation in 2014 coupled with an increase in the total area sampled in 2018,” said Anish Andheria, president, Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT).

“The current estimate is based on sampling that was carried out in tiger-bearing areas. While leopards coexist well with tigers, they have a much wider distribution than tigers. This means that a significant portion of leopard habitat such as the entire state of Gujarat and innumerable leopard-bearing habitats such as the Sanjay Gandhi Nation Park, Jhalana, are not sampled in this exercise. This means that in the future, if these are included in the estimation process, the population will go up further. To summarise, while the 2018 figure seems far more realistic compared to that of 2014, it is far from representing the real leopard situation on the ground. Having said this, India is the first country that has even attempted to estimate its leopard population. For more accurate results the government will have to carry out an exercise that is designed specifically for leopards, and one that covers their entire range,” he added.