By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: Experts on Thursday demanded the quarters concerned to come forward for a collective effort to form a technical forum to gather scientific evidence in order to tackle growing leopard encounter issue.
Recently, an endangered Common Asian Leopard got killed after being hit by two vehicles on the Grand Truck Road near Taxila-Sangjani area while chasing its prey.
The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) team reached the spot, but could not find the body for further probe into the matter, and the eye witness did not cooperate with the team to track the exact location.
The Punjab Wildlife Department Team from Rawalpindi district also reached the spot and continued the search along the IWMB team, but remained unsuccessful.
Vice Chairman of Pakistan Wildlife Foundation Safwan Ahmed disclosed that the endangered species of leopards were taken seriously by the IWMB and stakeholders to ensure its conservation that has thrived in a very short span of time in Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).
It had resulted into overpopulation of the wildcats that became a nuisance, similar to that in India where leopards were also thriving, he added.
He said as a suggestion it could be worked out to capture some of the pairs of leopards that might be sent to the northern areas to control its population in the Margallas and study its territorial spread across the region.
He said the MHNP all around was surrounded by population that made it vulnerable to human-wildlife conflicts. Ahmed underlined that all mammalogists would have to sit together to devise a solution to this matter. The recent incident of leopard running into the vehicles on G.T. Road was an indication of its overpopulation, whereas most of the wildcats used to perish in internal fights of males to gain area dominance in their territory. To a question, he said an extensive research would be required to study the problem of growing encounters of leopards and then devise an informed strategy to tackle the issue.
Referring to his suggestion to address the matter, he said it was a wise scientific guess but not a solution which needed scientific validation through evidence.
Safwan Ahmed said that there were two main disadvantages of leopards’ overpopulation, one increase in male leopards’ fight or violence, and the other rise in probability of human-wildlife conflict.
For instance, he said in year 2005, there was a single human-leopard conflict but this might increase to ten in the prevailing scenario.
Earlier, Chairperson of IWMB Rina Saeed Khan wrote on her Twitter account, “This sad incident occurred last night (Tuesday) around 2.15 a.m. on GT road (from Isd to Taxila) below Nicholson monument. Leopard jumped out onto road (chasing a prey?) & got run over by truck. Then was hit by another car whose bumper broke. Common leopard did not survive.
“A cameraman who was following car which hit leopard took this footage last night. We sent IWMB team to recover leopard for autopsy but unfortunately body has gone missing today. We are trying to locate eyewitnesses to file FIR at local police station in Sangjani.”
She urged the masses to provide information available in the case. “If you have any information regarding this incident plz message me directly. It is illegal to remove the remains of this endangered common leopard. The wildlife Dept needs to do an autopsy. We are filing an FIR.”
