5 Feb 2022.

Introduction:

On February 3, 2022, forest department officials have rescued a leopard from Sishugram Red Cross society near IIT Guwahati.

Highlights:

• Leopard will be released in its safe habitat after observation.
• NKF Division has also started the process of leopard counting census under its divisional jurisdiction.

Leopard counting census

• For the first time, North Kamrup Forest Division (NKF Division) has initiated an exclusive leopard counting census in Assam’s Forest and non-forest areas. Leopard counting census has been initiated in leopard density areas of Amingaon in Kamrup district. It started from January 31, 2022.
• Leopard counting will be done through camera trapping method. 50 cameras will be installed in Sila Reserve Forest, NIPER, Changsari, AIIMS etc. across Amingaon area.

Status of Leopards Report

• In July 2021, the Union Environment Ministry released a report titled “Status of Leopards, Co-predators and Megaherbivores-2018”, on the occasion of World Tiger Day.
• As per the report, official leopard count in India has increased 63 per cent in between 2014-2018. In 2018, there were 12,852 leopards in India, while there were 7,910 in 2014.
• Largest number of leopards have been estimated in Madhya Pradesh (3,421). It is followed by Karnataka (1,783) and Maharashtra (1,690).

About Leopard

• The Scientific Name of Leopard is Panthera pardus. It is listed in Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. It is also included in Appendix I of CITES.
• In IUCN Red List, it is listed in vulnerable category. As of now, 9 subspecies of the leopard have been recognised. They are distributed across Asia and Africa.

Accreditation of CA|TS

In India, 14 tiger reserves have received the accreditation of Global Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS). These include:

• Manas, Kaziranga and Orang Tiger Reserves in Assam.
• Satpura, Kanha and Panna Tiger Reserves in Madhya Pradesh.
• Pench Tiger Reserves in Maharashtra.
• Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar.
• Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh.
• Sunderbans Tiger Reserve in West Bengal.
• Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala.
• Bandipur Tiger Reserve of Karnataka.
• Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu.

About CA|TS

• CA|TS was officially launched in 2013. It is an accreditation tool, agreed upon by global coalition of Tiger Range Countries (TRCs).
•  It has been developed by tiger and protected area experts. CA|TS allows tiger sites to check if their management will result into successful tiger conservation.