Deforestation leads to increase in leopard sightings in C’nagar

Mysuru: Villages in Chamarajanagar district are witnessing increased sightings of leopards as the big cats are venturing into human habitats. Though the district has over 48% of forest cover, leopards prefer to stay in shrub areas, abandoned plots and sugarcane fields instead of living in thickly forested areas.
Recently, the sightings of leopards in Karinanjanjapura and Kempanapura came under the limits of Chamarajanagar City Municipal.Officials attributed the increased sightings to deforestation, encroachments of forest land, and increased human intervention.
The leopard problem has resulted in several tragic encounters with villagers at Hullepura in Chamarajnagar taluk and Kodagapura in Gundlupet taluk, while incidents of leopards attacking livestock and pets have been reported from various villages in the district.
People living in forest fringe villages—the district has more than 140 villages that border forest land—and farmers fear to venture out of their homes to work in agricultural fields due to the leopard problem.
Though the forest department officials and Leopard Task Force are acting swiftly on the complaints of the leopard movement in the villages and placing cages, and installing cameras at strategic locations to track the movement of the leopard, the number of incidents have increased. But foresters have been successful in trapping the leopards only in a few villages like Hullepura in Chamarajanagar taluk.
Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha district vice-president Badagalapura Nagaraj accused the district authorities of turning a blind eye to the growing human-animal conflict in several villages. “Farmers are living in constant fear of leopard attacks due to the increase in sightings of big cats. There is an urgent need to find a solution to this menace in the district,” he added.
Deputy conservator of forests of BRT Tiger Reserve Deep J Contractor said the department has provided wide publicity in the forest fringe villages and other villages frequented by leopard sightings to alert the officials immediately. The staff have also shared the contact details and formed WhatsApp groups for people to alert about the sightings of leopards, she said.
She said that wildlife is being impacted by climate change in a variety of ways, including habitat loss, altered migratory patterns, and declining population, increased human intervention in forest areas, and other reasons.
Wildlife activist Punajanur Doreswamy said developmental activities along forest periphery, as well as encroachments and break-ins along animal movement corridors, all contribute to and intensify human-animal conflict.