Drought takes its toll of leopards in Nashik

Drought takes its toll of leopards in Nashik
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MAR 26: As if environmental degradation wasn't enough, leopards in Maharashtra now have a new enemy -- the drought.

Scarcity of food and water in Nashik district have proved to be fatal for the leopard, an endangered species listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Fifteen leopards have died in the past one year in Nashik due to lack of food and drinking water, to the dismay of forest officials in the district.

According to Mrs Sunita Singh, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Nashik (west), 13 leopards have died in the past one year in west Nasik, while two have died in the same period in the eastern region. "About 24 per cent of the district is covered by forests, but in the past few years the forests have degraded and the prey base of the leopard has disappeared. There has not been a single sighting of any deer or antelope, which are the main prey of the carnivore in the forest," says Mrs Singh.

These herbivorous animals, she says, have become locally extinct because of local tribals who hunt for meat. She says that the only prey available in the forest to the leopard are rabbits, partridges and quails.

Scarcity of food within the forest has, in fact, pushed leopards to its outer fringes, towards villages, in search of prey. Driven by thirst, seven leopards had stumbled into wells located around Sinnar in Nashik district where drought is very severe. Four succumbed, but forest officials managed to rescue three leopards. Three others had succumbed to starvation and disease.

Bishwaroop Raha, honorary wildlife warden of Nasik, says, "Three years of successive drought has dried up the perennial waterholes in the forest forcing leopards into the villages."

Singh, the Deputy Conservator, points out that some of the deaths could also be accidents. "The big cats have mostly fallen into temporary wells dug by villagers. These are not covered and leopards hunting in the dark for livestock accidentally fall into the well."

Mr Arvind Visphute, the deputy conservator of Nashik East, says the drought has pushed the leapord towards the irrigated areas in search of water. "Last year, the rainfall was 800 mm and this year the district has only received 340 mm of rainfall," says Mr VisphuteThe number of leopards in the district is not known. Forest officials say no census has been undertaken to assess the number of leopards existing in the region and their prey or food base. No plan has been drawn up a plan for conservation either.

These officials also admit that no concrete steps have been taken to prevent such "accidents." "We are educating the locals that they should leave the prey base of the leopards alone, if they do not want them to enter their villages and cities," says Singh.