Nowhere to Live: Squeezing Habitat and Human-leopard Conflicts in Maligaon, Guwahati, Assam

Abstract

Guwahati, a city of 2 million residents is the largest city in northeastern part of India. Situated by the side of River Brahmaputra, the city is of an undulated topography with some hillocks and wetlands. The considerable area of the city is still forested and seven reserve forests are located within the city. The forested topography of the city offers a good habitat for the Common Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), a Scheduled 1 species under Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. Over the years, there have been growing casualties on human-leopard conflicts in the region. Indian common leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), is a highly adaptive species and do inhabit in human proximity, which creates conflicts resulting in a loss on both sides. The present study has found that there is a rise in the incidence of human-leopard conflict in Maligaon Gaushala farmland, located in 26º08′48.5″N and 91°41′39.2″E, covering land areas of 34.82 Hectare. The study has been conducted in this area from the last five years i.e. 2015-2019 and recorded 16 number of human-leopard conflicts. It is also found that the area is used for feeding and breeding ground of cattle, for keeping old unproductive cows and dumping ground for dead cattle’s carcass. The area is covered with thick elephant grasses (Pennisetum purpureum), and it is used as chief fodder for cows inside the Gaushala farmland, which is a good foraging for high yielding of milk production from Gaushala farmland and optimum hiding ground for leopard. Due to expansion and high escalations of encroachment to the habitat of leopard a total of 90 incidences of human-leopard conflicts occurs since 1995, which include 13 human causalities, 3 leopards’ mortality and 29 livestock predation. The present study investigates detail movements of the species, their habitat based on camera trapping, Scat analysis, GPS records and field interviews. The data thus gathered not only helped to record the nature of conflicts in the area but also to design a conservation plan for the species. The suggestions recorded in the study are intended to reduce the incidences human-leopard conflicts in the area.