Tiger Conservation Forcing Leopards Into Conflict With Humans

The race is on to protect tigers in the wild with less than 3,000 left in the entire world. Whilst conservationists rush to save this wonderful species from extinction, they are ignoring the plight of the equally magnificent leopard which is being left to fend for itself. As a result there are an increasing number of cases where leopards have been forced into human territory where they face the risk of being killed.

Impact of tiger conservation on leopards ignored

As tiger numbers and the reservations they occupy grow, the impact on leopard populations is simply being ignored and they are increasingly being pushed into areas occupied by humans. This means leopards have to adapt in response to both humans and tigers by changing their activities. According to a new study published in the journal of Global Ecology and Conservation, leopards try to avoid encountering humans by becoming nocturnal and changing their activity to operating when it is darkest.

Leopards are adaptable

A related study was able to show that leopards in the wild were quite capable of cohabiting in areas where humans are present by hunting at night time and executing a hit and run strategy of nabbing food. In fact, during the course of the study, two of the five leopards that were being tracked gave birth to cubs. Despite the fact that the leopard seems able to adapt to changing circumstances, researchers argue that this behaviour is not advisable. According to the last WWF census, there are only about 1,150 Indian leopards left in the wild and as people seek to protect themselves when they or their livestock come in contact with them, it could well result in more leopard deaths.

Leopards in danger from retaliatory killings

In the areas where tigers and leopards cohabit, humans tend to be the dominant species, however because the tiger is the more socially dominant big cat, they effectively get first choice over the areas where humans have less impact and this forces leopards to live closer to humans. This is far from ideal because as we said earlier, leopards are bound to come into conflict with humans which is likely to result in retaliatory killings if they cause livestock or even human deaths.

Tiger conservation should continue

The researchers quite rightly point out the results of the study in no way suggests that tiger conservation should cease, but instead the study highlights the requirement that conservationists should consider all the impacts of their efforts.

“We want to see increased tiger numbers – that’s a great outcome from a conservation perspective. But we also need to anticipate reverberations throughout other parts of the coupled human and natural systems in which tigers are moving into, such as the ways leopards respond to their new cohabitants, and in turn how humans respond to their new cohabitants.” said lead author Neil Carter.