Only 26 leopards left in Panchkula sanctuaries

PANCHKULA: Two wildlife sanctuaries located in Panchkula, Bir Shakargah and Khol Hi-Raitan, has 26 leopards according to the census of the forests and wildlife department of Haryana conducted in 2016. Conservator of forests and wildlife M L Rajvanshi said the wildlife reserves spread across Panchkula, Morni, Pinjore, Kalka, Sukhna and Nalagarh starting from Kalesar near Yamunanagar have a total of 153 leopards.Rajvanshi said leopards tend to stray out of their natural habitat which has becoming one of the reasons behind their deaths and the increased leopard attacks. He said, “During winters, Cheetals, Barasinghas and Blue Bulls stray out of jungle to fields in search of food and following them leopards too stray out and get killed in road accidents.”He said Bir Shakargah and Khol Hi-Raitan are the only wildlife forest reserves with Panchkula which are situated at hill stations. “The close encounters with leopards are a sign of overlapping habitats. Sightings, intrusions and death of four leopards in urban areas of Panchkula adjoining Morni hills have underlined the conflict between man and nature,” said Rajvanshi. As per the estimate of Wild Life Institute of India (WII), India has 12,000 to 14,000 leopards but most of them are in high man-animal conflict zone.