Sterile measure

Maharashtra and Gujarat propose to sterilise leopards to control their booming population, amid rising conflicts between the animal and humans. Is the plan feasible?

-  HIMANSHU N

THE BIRTH of an Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) should be a cause for celebration, given that it has long been classified as "endangered" under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) also lists the animal under the Appendix I category, implying it is at risk of extinction. So, when Maharashtra decided to sterilise leopards, it triggered debate.

In early August, the state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar directed the forest department to prepare an action plan for leopard sterilisation within two months. This will be submitted to the Centre. "If approved, a detailed study on scientific feasibility, distribution of leopard population across geography, estimates and sustained limits of population and other aspects will be commissioned and accordingly a decision will be made," Mungantiwar tells Down To Earth. "If permitted, Maharashtra will be the first state to engage in sustainable management of population for leopards," claims Amol Satpute, deputy conservator of forests, Junnar.

The state government says controlling the animal's population is one of the urgent solutions needed to control the rise in leopard-human conflicts. As per the latest national leopard census, "Status of Leopards, Co-predators and Megaherbivores-2018", Maharashtra has 1,690 leopards. This is the fourth highest after Madhya Pradesh (3,421 leopards, as per the 2018 census), Gujarat (2,274, as per the state's estimates in 2023) and Karnataka (1,783, as per the 2018 census). "The estimates (for the 2018 census) were taken in only 18 states where the tiger population exists, and leopard areas beyond the tiger range were not surveyed," says H S Singh, former principal chief conservator of forests, Gujarat, and member, National Board of Wildlife.