Thursday, May 12, 2016

Leopards in search of food on the prowl in streets of Gujarat


Leopards in Gujarat have taken to the streets in search of food and are coming exceedingly close to human settlements. A pre-census estimation by the forest department has indicated a 50% rise in leopard count in revenue areas, namely human settlements near cities and big towns of Gujarat.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 12 May 2016.
As per the leopard census of 2011, there were 1,160 big cats in the state out of which 290 or a quarter were spotted in revenue areas. The pre-census estimates ahead of Census 2016 that is to take place between May 20-22 has pegged a 50% rise. A rough estimate is a count of between 1,350 and 1,400 and, out of these, 450-odd are believed to be living outside forest areas closer to human habitat.
Areas like Amreli in Saurashtra and Narmada and Bharuch in south Gujarat have much greater leopard density in revenue areas. This growth in revenue areas could translate into increase in incidents of man-animal conflict in future. At present, there is an average of one leopard attack once in three days in the state. In 2015-16, 12 persons were killed and 107 attacked by leopards.
In the opinion of a National Board of Wildlife member and expert on big cats, leopards are moving out of sanctuaries in search of food and territory. Gir forest has a rich prey base of deer, rabbits, cheetal and other small animals. However, the negligible ungulate population in other sanctuaries is forcing these leopards to move closer to human habitats in search of prey, especially dogs.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Some more interesting links -

Baya weaver birds return to Ganjam district in Odisha

28 thrillseekers stuck in Alton Towers Galactica rollercoaster ride for 40 minutes

Walking is the best exercise in polluted cities


Moody wonders why American space research firms are jittery (satire)

Lord Shiva and Durga on home delivery and drones (satire)

Sujjo Kanto and Ritu Bruto on free LPG connections (satire)


ISIS still holding 30 workers out of 300 kidnapped from cement factory in Dumeir

Another Bangladeshi blogger killed in Dhaka because of his views on religion

Florida hunters bag a 15-foot 800-pound massive alligator


Michael Fassbender to portray the role of a serial killer in 'Entering Hades'

Disney plans live action fairytales for 2017, 2018 and 2019 - specific films not disclosed

Matt Damon to return in new Jason Bourne film

No comments:

Post a Comment