Wildlife experts to study leopard behaviour

Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), March 9 Leopard behaviour will be a part of a study by experts and scientists at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

The experts will also study reasons for leopards straying into human habitations, incidents of which have been on the rise.

They will investigate whether the noise pollution in the cities is adversely affecting their innate senses.

Kaushik Banerjee, a senior scientist in the tiger cell at the Dehradun-based WII, has emphasised the need for a microscopic study to find ways to avert the man-leopard conflict in cities.

"We know that the leopards stray to far-off destinations scrounging for prey but why they go to cities is not known. In almost every case, the forest department had no option but to rescue the feline as it never went back to the wild," he said.

According to experts, since leopards are smaller in size and weight in comparison to other wild cats such as tigers, they tend to be pushed out of the wild. The leopards have adapted to survive in different situations and prey on dogs and pigs.

The secretary general of Global Tiger Forum (GTF) in India, Rajesh Gopal, said, "The heedless disposal of the household waste around human settlements in city areas attracts the feral street dogs and pigs which make for easy prey for the leopards, which is why they stray for long periods. This situation calls for civic awareness and action of the municipal authorities as well as the pollution control board."

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