A full grown leopard was found dead on October 11, after getting trapped in a metal wire trap that is believed to have been laid for wild boars. The leopard that was found at Mardol was found in a position which indicated that it was trying to escape the snare which it was still trapped in where it succumbed.
The incident is the second in five months after a female leopard was found dead after being trapped in a similar metal snare at Dharbandora in June and the third if one counts back till December 2022.
The number of leopards being killed by snares laid for wild boar points to a serious failure by the authorities especially the forest department that has failed to crack down on illegal hunting of wild animals done mainly for their meat -- and not as some may claim -- to prevent the animals from attacking agricultural land.
The death of the leopards points to the risks Goa’s wildlife -- which is left with increasingly less and less space and habitat to contend with -- faces just to survive in what was once largely unhindered territory.
It also points to the disadvantage that the farmers will face -- as leopards are the primary predators of wild boar and their deaths and reduction in numbers will lead to a proliferation in the numbers of wild boar and other species like rabbits that are known to destroy crops.
The Forest Department has directed its guards to increase patrolling especially in areas where poachers are known to operate in a bid to crackdown on the menace. However, more will need to be done and the department will need all of its wherewithal to tackle this long running problem. That said, the department cannot afford to shirk its responsibility and claim that the problem is bigger than it can handle because of the wide area it needs to guard and the lack of personnel and the inaccessible terrain in which these traps are laid.
What the forest department needs instead is a network of informers -- those who will provide intelligence on who is laying these traps and to what end -- informers who will be suitably rewarded for accurate information on how to identify the accused.
This can be achieved through an awareness campaign to firstly dissuade poachers from laying traps and -- if done carefully -- clandestinely building a network of informers. Unfortunately, the state is faced with a situation wherein forest guards, even if they know who the culprits are, do not report the matter to the higher ups owing to the filial relationship they share with the poachers.
Similar to the issue of sand mining, where even the police were reluctant to act against the culprits until the High Court took up the matter, the Forest Department faces a similar predicament. The Forest Department could first begin by setting up a helpline or email address where informers could anonymously report cases of traps being laid by poachers and encouraging people to report incidents.
Patrolling too is necessary because it serves as a deterrent and makes both potential poachers and informers aware of their presence, but it will have to be complemented by intelligence and combing of forests to check for traps that are laid before they claim an unsuspecting animal.
