Date: May 17, 2017
Source: Wildlife Conservation
Society
A new WCS study finds that
leopards are abundant in tea-garden landscapes in north-eastern India, but that
their mere presence does not lead to conflicts with people.
The researchers modeled
habitat-use by leopards based on leopard signs for the first time in a
human-dominated, tea-garden landscape and identified nearly 25 percent of areas
having high probability of use by leopards was outside of forested patches.
Results show that leopards use tea-gardens due to the availability of dense
ground vegetation cover, while avoiding areas with a high density of developed
areas.
The collaborative study between
WCS, Centre for Wildlife Studies-India, National Centre for Biological
Sciences-India, Foundation of Ecological Research Advocacy and Learning, and
the West Bengal Forest Department was conducted in a tea-garden and forest
mosaic in the northern West Bengal state and covered a densely populated area
of approximately 600 sq km. The landscape is defined by a matrix of small
protected areas interspersed between vast stretches of tea-gardens,
agricultural fields, and villages, and is part of the East-Himalayan
biodiversity hotspot.
The study mapped more than 170
locations where people were injured by leopards and interviewed approximately
90 of those injured between 2009 and 2016. More than 350 leopard-human
encounters were reported during this period, with five resulting in human
fatalities. The authors found no significant relationship between the
probability of attack and probability of habitat-use by leopards.
Aritra Kshettry, WCS India
Program affiliate and lead author of the study said, "Our results indicate
that an increased use of an area by leopards, in itself, does not translate to
an increased number of attacks on people. The interviews of victims who were
attacked by leopards suggest that these encounters are accidental in nature since
most of the attacks resulted in minor injuries and occurred during the day
while people were working in the tea plantations."
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