In the first four months of 2019, India lost 218 leopards, which is more than 40% of the previous year’s total leopard death toll. According to data kept by the nonprofit Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 500 leopards died in 2018.
According to data compiled by the WPSI, at least one leopard died every day in 2018 – beaten or shot to death, run over by trains, or trapped in wells or other water bodies.
Poaching has been the leading cause of death in 2019, claiming 57 leopards between January and April.
Infrastructure projects in forests have also given rise to an increased number of accidents. Apart from this, electrocution also took the lives of 5 leopards this year.
Leopards are listed as ‘vulnerable’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, which means it is just short of endangered. At the rate we’re losing these big cats, they need all the protection they can get.