‘260 leopards poached since 2015’-Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh accounted for the largest number of cases, govt. tells Lok Sabha
- At least 260 leopards were poached in the country between 2015 and 2018, with Uttarakhand accounting for 60 cases and Himachal Pradesh reporting another 49, according to information given to Parliament by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
In Chhattisgarh, M.P.
- Central Indian States like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also recorded a high number of cases of leopard poaching in the past four years, at 25 and 21 respectively.
- Poaching of leopards was reported by 19 States, including Assam and West Bengal in the east, Punjab in the West and Telangana and Tamil Nadu in the south.
- Wildlife organisations, however, estimate leopard poaching to be at a much higher level based on the seizures of body parts.
- Experts point out that since leopards live in close proximity to human habitations and are found all across the country, the cases of poaching too are spread countrywide, with a significant number of such incidents not showing up in government records.
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