Uttarakhand, Maharashtra had highest leopard poaching in India: TRAFFIC study

News: TRAFFIC India has released a paper titled ‘‘SPOTTED’ in Illegal Wildlife Trade: A Peek into Ongoing Poaching and Illegal Trade of Leopards in India’.

Facts:

Key Takeaways:

• The seizure and mortality of ‘common leopards’ revealed that of the total of 747 leopard deaths between 2015-2019 in India, 596 were linked to illegal wildlife trade and activities related to poaching.
• The highest numbers of poaching incidents were reported from the States of Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.

Additional Facts:

Indian Leopard(Common Leopard): 

• Indian Leopard: It is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent.
• Habitat: It is distributed in India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Pakistan.
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable
• Threats: Habitat Destruction, Human-Animal Conflict and Illegal Wildlife Trade.

TRAFFIC: It is the leading non-governmental organisation(NGO) working globally on the trade of wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity and sustainable development.

• Founded in: It was founded in 1976 as a strategic alliance of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• Location: Cambridge, UK