Usham Singh

Developing solutions for leopard-human conflicts in Karnataka

A study on ecology and human-leopard conflict was initiated in Sanapur Community Reserve, Karnataka, during 2007. We held meetings with Forest Officers and discussed the issue of human-leopard conflict. It motivated us to conduct the conservation works in larger parts of the state. In the first six months of the study, the project will focus on achieving two targets; viz., firstly, knowing the status and distribution of leopards from the existing records of the Forest Department and field surveys and secondly, magnitude of human-leopard conflicts in non-protected areas of the state. An analysis on some critical information’s on age and sex of the people attacked by the leopard, livestock depredation, seasonal variation during the attack, habitat utilisation by leopards etc., will be carried out. The next three months of the study will be keenly focused on sharing these information’s and past experiences with the local people and education awareness programmes to be held in various zones of the state. We will also conduct capacity building workshops for the forest staff, who mainly deals with the conflicts. In the last three months, we will procure four satellite imageries, mainly to plot the GPS locations to know the habitat use by the leopards and labelled as suitable, moderate and unsuitable habitats of the leopards. The study will provide recommendations to solve human-leopard conflicts at regional level.

For more information contact usham@wildlifesos.org or go to www.wildlifesos.org