Leopards are facing danger and days are not far when their strugglefor survival would be like tigers.
At least four Leopards have been poached and their bodyparts entered into illegal wildlife trade every week for at least 10 years inIndia, according to TRAFFIC’s latest study “Illuminating the Blind Spot: A studyon illegal trade in Leopard parts in India”.
The study documents a total of 420 seizures of Leopardskins, bones and other body parts reported from 209 localities in 21 out of 35territories in India during 2001“2010.
Statistical analysis is used to estimate the additionallevels of “undetected trade” and concludes that around 2294 Leopards weretrafficked in India during the period”an average of four animals per week overthe 10 year period.
Leopards (Panthera pardus) are fully protected under India’sdomestic legislation, and commercial international trade is banned under CITES(the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna andFlora).
“TRAFFIC’s objective analysis has cast new light onto thesheer scale of the illicit trade in Leopard parts in India, which has hithertobeen overshadowed by the trade in another of the country’s national icons, theTiger,” said Dr Divyabhanusinh Chavda, President, WWF-India.
“Without an effective strategy to assess and tackle thethreats posed by illegal trade, the danger is that Leopard numbers may declinerapidly as happened previously to the Tiger” he further added.
Uttarakhand emerged as a major source of Leopard parts intrade, while Delhi was found to be a major epicenter of the illegal trade,along with adjacent areas of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
Dr Rashid Raza, Coordinator with TRAFFIC in India and thelead author of the study said: “Even though reports of illegal trade in Leopardbody parts are disturbingly frequent, the level of threat to Leopards in thecountry has previously been unrecognized, and has fallen into our collective‘blind spot’.”
Close to 90% of reported Leopard part seizures in Indiacomprised solely of skins, making them the dominant body part found in illegaltrade during the 10 year period. Other body parts, particularly bones, areknown to be prescribed as substitutes for Tiger parts in traditional Asianmedicine.
It is believed most Leopard parts are smuggled out of Indiato other countries in Asia, often via the porous border with neighbouringNepal. Earlier investigations indicated many of the Leopard parts found forsale in northern Myanmar, northern Laos and the ethnic Tibetan regions of Chinaoriginated from India.
The report recommends the establishment of a Task Force totackle illegal trade in the areas identified as having the highest levels ofLeopard-related crime, as well as better regional co-operation between source,transit and market countries through initiatives such as the South AsiaWildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN).
Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India said:“The Leopard is among the most charismatic large animals in the world, andplays an important ecological role in the forests it inhabits”.
“Any increase in external market demand could easily lead toa decimation of Leopard numbers in India, but I am hopeful this latest analysiswill provide the impetus to catalyse effective conservation action;particularly increased effectiveness of law enforcement initiatives to curtailthe illegal trade in Leopard body parts”.
TRAFFIC’s work on the Leopard trade in India is supported byWWF-India and WWF-UK.
