Snares have emerged as a major threat to leopards in human-dominated landscapes in the State.
As many as 113 snaring incidents involving leopards were recorded between 2009 and 2020 of which 67 leopards, accounting for 59.3% of such cases, died.
A majority of snaring incidents were reported from Dakshina Kannada (15%) followed by Mysuru (14.2%), Chikkamagaluru and Udupi (11.5% each), Hassan (10.6%), and Tumakuru and Ramanagaram (7.1% each).
These are as per a new study by Sanjay Gubbi, Aparna Kolekar, and Vijaya Kumara who published their findings in a paper titled ‘Quantifying wire snares as a threat to leopards in Karnataka, India.’
It was published in the journal Tropical Conservation Science and Mr. Gubbi, the lead author, said leopards are widely found in human-dominated landscapes, including small forest patches, arecanut plantations, and maize and sugarcane fields, and they face a higher threat in such habitats.
The study evaluated the number of leopards captured in snares and the mortality of leopards due to snares during a period of 12 years (2009–2020) in Karnataka. Most snares (97.5%) were set to catch wild prey, specifically wild pigs, highlighting leopards — a non-target species — as a “bycatch” as farmers tried to protect crops from wild herbivores.
Nearly 50% of the snaring incidents occurred during monsoons when farmers tend to put extra efforts to protect their farms against crop-raiding wild ungulates which may be the reason for a higher number of leopards getting caught in snares during the season, according to the authors of the study.
A majority of snaring incidents occurred in areas densely populated by people such as plantations and farmland and accounted for 54.7%, followed by unprotected forests (21.4%), and then in reserved/State forests (14.3%). The least incidence was within protected areas (national parks/wildlife sanctuaries/tiger reserves/conservation reserves, 9.5%).
The study also indicated that the number of snaring incidents was high in areas that crossed a human population density of 225 people/square kilometre.
Mr. Gubbi said though the death of nearly six leopards per year due to snares may not look very significant, it is much higher compared with other unnatural mortalities such as vehicular collisions (4.6 leopards/year) or 3.6 leopards/year due to retaliatory actions such as poisoning, and less than 1 leopard per year due to falling in open wells as demonstrated in other studies.
The authors called for greater protection against poaching, especially outside protected areas and underlined the importance of reducing human-wildlife conflict as it has an indirect bearing on leopards. Mr. Gubbi said conservation outreach to reduce mortality of leopards due to snares should also be increased as such activities could possibly help sloth bears and striped hyenas. Their territories overlap with leopards and face similar challenges.
