The Plight of the Leopard
Wildlife SOS works to save many, many species. But maybe none do I WANT to see helped more than the Leopard.
It’s a tragic story of man-animal conflict, and in these cases neither wins. Well, maybe man eventually will prevail, but always to the detriment of the animal and always with casualties along the way.
These majestic creatures lived happily in the wild in the Indian State of Maharashtra. These animals are a victim of development. Like many animals, loss of habitat forced them into survival mode. Wild land turned into farmed sugar fields. The Leopards still, sadly, found the sugar fields a livable habitat; gave birth to cubs, and in an effort to protect them turned to killing people.
The response, of course, was not to move out of the Leopard habitat, but instead to remove the Leopards.
Some were released, others however, were placed in a Centre in Junnar, Maharashtra (about four hours from Mumbai). The Government made a call to Wildlife SOS asking for help running the Centre they had created to care for the cats. Woefully inadequate, the Leopards need our help.
Some have enclosures have what you see in the second photo. Others have what you see above. Even the best enclosures simply are not good enough. They are too small, not natural enough, and have no place to hide. Leopards don’t like to be seen, but the current digs basically put them on display.
We have plans this year to fund as much of this project as possible. The land exists at Junnar to build natural, beautiful enclosures, all that is needed is the money. If you want to help you can donate to Wildlife SOS here.
