BIJNOR: Foresters at the Amangarh Tiger Reserve (ATR) are scratching their heads over a peculiar problem. In the last two months, they have trapped and rescued six leopards from human habitats that have seen an increasing number of man-animal conflicts. But the felines that were then released into ATR were “refused entry” into the jungle by tigers and pushed right back to the forest’s fringes close to villages and farm fields. Now it’s back to square one.
A forest official said, “Tigers are extremely possessive about their territory and due to paucity of space in ATR, they do not let any other predator thrive in their domain, resulting in territorial wars.”
Asked why the rescued leopards were not released in the zoo, Bijnor’s divisional forest officer (DFO), Arun Kumar Singh, said, “After a leopard is rescued, it is examined medically. If it is found to be a man-eater or unfit to hunt, only then it is sent to a zoo. Otherwise, it is mandatory for us to release it in its natural habitat. In all the cases in the recent past, the leopards attacked humans only after they felt their habitat (sugarcane fields) was being threatened.”
ATR, which started out with 13 tigers in 2012 when it was notified as a reserve, is currently home to 27 tigers as per the 2022 census.
A forest official said, “Tigers are extremely possessive about their territory and due to paucity of space in ATR, they do not let any other predator thrive in their domain, resulting in territorial wars.”
Asked why the rescued leopards were not released in the zoo, Bijnor’s divisional forest officer (DFO), Arun Kumar Singh, said, “After a leopard is rescued, it is examined medically. If it is found to be a man-eater or unfit to hunt, only then it is sent to a zoo. Otherwise, it is mandatory for us to release it in its natural habitat. In all the cases in the recent past, the leopards attacked humans only after they felt their habitat (sugarcane fields) was being threatened.”
ATR, which started out with 13 tigers in 2012 when it was notified as a reserve, is currently home to 27 tigers as per the 2022 census.
source
The post is published through a syndicated feed and attributed to Times Of India
