According to a study, 263 leopards were captured in Gujarat and released into the wild 834 times in 10 years – each was caught three times on average.
These big cats were tagged with microchips after capture so that their movements, and interactions with humans could be studied. One leopard was found to be the most dogged ‘repeat offender’ as it was recaptured six more times after being set free into the wild.
These observations are part of the recently published paper titled ‘Human and leopard interactions around Gir National Park and Sanctuary’.
The research takes note of a female leopard that was radio-collared in 2002 after it was rescued from a well in Talala. However, within 72 hours of being released into the Gir forest, it was found on the farms near Diu. Monitored closely for three years, it was recaptured in June 2005.
The data also showed that most of the captured leopards that were released into Gir National Park and Sanctuary moved back into the agricultural areas.
The instances of human-leopard interactions were the highest in the agricultural lands in winter – the big cats were found to have interacted with humans in 39 percent of the 1,192 captures recorded.
The cases of leopards falling into open wells and entering homes were the highest in monsoon (38%) and summer (53%) respectively. In all, 920 instances of capture were recorded in agricultural fields followed by agricultural wells (143) and homes (79).
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