Leopard count exercise kicks off in 51 forest divisions in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: As announced earlier, the state government has launched its own leopard enumeration to ascertain the exact population of the big cats in Odisha.

The All Odisha Leopard Estimation is being carried out in 51 forest divisions across the state using trap camera technique as an indirect sighting method. As many as 3,312 trap cameras are being put to use for the purpose.

The trap camera images of leopards obtained during the All Odisha Tiger Estimation Exercise, conducted between September 15 and January 31 will be used as reference for this exercise.

Intensive monitoring for leopards will be carried out in tiger reserves where a pair of trap camera will be used in every 2km X 2km grid, while in other areas including wildlife sanctuaries five pairs of trap cameras will be installed in every 25 square km, an official from the department said.

The Similipal Tiger Reserve sources said while camera traps have already been distributed for the enumeration, more will be used in places that could not be covered during the state’s tiger estimation exercise.

The state government decided to conduct its own leopard census in March after the Status of Leopard in India 2022 report pointed out that leopard population in Odisha has recorded a ‘significant’ decline. As per the report, the total number of leopards in the state in 2022 stood at 568 – around 192 less than the previous count of 760 in 2018.

The fifth cycle of leopard population estimation, carried out by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in collaboration with state Forest departments, underlined that the major efforts of leopard population recovery in the state is restricted to tiger reserves.