• Activists, researchers, and estate dwellers note threats posed to the local ‘kotiya’ thanks to human endeavours and propose a census and awareness as solutions 

In a background where hundreds of elephant and human lives are lost annually due to the much talked-about human-elephant conflict, there has been a discussion as to whether a human-leopard conflict has also been created in the country. Incidents of leopard attacks on people living in mountainous areas, especially plantation-based areas such as Hatton, leopards approaching their houses and hunting animals such as dogs, and leopards dying in traps set by people have paved the way for this conversation.

The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a leopard subspecies native to Sri Lanka. It was first described in 1956 by Sri Lankan zoologist Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala. Since 2020, the Sri Lankan leopard has been listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, as the population is estimated at less than 800 mature individuals, and is probably declining. The Sri Lankan leopard can be found in all habitats throughout the island in both protected and unprotected areas, which can be categorised into the arid zone, the dry zone, and the wet zone. In Sri Lanka’s central hills, leopards have been recorded in forest patches, tea estates, grasslands, home gardens, and pine and eucalyptus plantations.

Threats 

Speaking to The Daily Morning, environmental activist and leopard researcher Sameera Weeratunga, said that there is no evidence to confirm that there is a leopard-human conflict in any area, but that leopards are at risk due to human activities. Observing the past five years, he noted that it is clear that leopards living in montane and sub-montane areas and remnant forests face a range of complex threats. “Except for highly populated suburban areas and a few identified areas, the leopard distribution can be seen all over the island. Their population is at different rates in the National Parks such as Yala, Wilpattu, Gal Oya Valley, Horton Plains, Lunugamwehera, Wasgamuwa and Udawalawe. The incidents of leopards being killed by trapping, poisoning, and shooting in national parks are also being heard of.” However, he said that since all these lands are protected by the Department of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation, the level of protection and quality required for leopard habitats is still high, particularly when observing the health, body size and reproduction of leopards, and the movement of male leopards living in those areas. In a study of the situation, he said that it is observed that the leopards living in the mountainous areas are dying in large numbers and that many scientific and sociological factors have caused the situation. “The main issue for this is that most of the land in the mountainous areas has been used for tea cultivation and the remaining land has been cleared for the cultivation of other crops such as cinnamon, clove and pepper. When it happens, the quality of the land decreases rapidly. The rapid degradation of leopard habitats, exposure to humans and the large-scale establishment of human settlements near their habitats are among the things that affect this situation.” Weeratunga further said that along with the gradual decline in the quality of the land where leopards live, an acute food shortage also emerges, and added that the leopards cannot quickly adapt to such conditions.

Commenting on the situation concerning leopards in upcountry areas, environmental activist Rajika Gamage told The Daily Morning that although leopards live in almost all national parks and adjacent areas, there are no reports of conflicts between leopards and humans in other parts of the country, but that several sociological factors have affected the frequent occurrence of such incidents in mountainous areas. “This is by no means aimed at a particular ethnicity, but we know that it is mostly the Tamil community of Indian origin that lives in the upcountry areas. Rooted in their mind is the idea that the leopard is an enemy, so they often opt to harm them (leopard). Many of the Sri Lankans don’t see the leopard as an enemy. They have traditional knowledge of how to act when a leopard approaches, but, the people in mountainous areas often surround it with sticks. At that time, the leopard is tempted to attack people. There have also been incidents of leopards attacking people who are working in tea estates, but, many attacks on humans by leopards are caused by the people themselves inciting the leopard to harm them.” He also explained the reasons for the increase in incidents of leopards coming near houses located in plantation-based areas. “Animals such as dogs, goats, milch cows and chickens can be frequently seen in plantation-based areas. The larger the community, the more the population of these animals. Leopards are tempted to hunt these animals,” Gamage said, and added that leopards come near the houses to prey on wild animals like pigs, rabbits, and porcupines that come to the plantations at night.

Both Weeratunga and Gamage said that to prevent leopards from harming humans and vice versa, all relevant parties including the Departments of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation, the Government and private plantation companies, and universities and social researchers must implement short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions.

Protecting leopards

“It is very important to carry out a leopard census to accurately determine the leopard population in Sri Lanka. It can be very difficult to do, but, it will be the beginning of a number of very practical solutions. By carrying out such a census, their habitats can be identified and mapped. Through this, it is possible to identify the qualitative and quantitative changes in their original habitats and address the issues, and reduce the acquisition of their land for cultivation activities to a considerable level,” Weeratunga opined. He also emphasised that if a leopard dies due to any human activity in any estate, be it Government or private, legal action should be taken against the estate management. Considering sustainable development, he said, it is their (estate management) responsibility to create a better quality of life for the people and the animals living in the land that they have occupied.

Gamage said that changing the wrong attitude towards leopards in some communities is a long-term solution to this problem, and for that, certain changes in the education system and constant awareness will be needed. “Nowhere in our country’s education is there sufficient content about aspects such as wildlife conservation. Therefore, we need to prepare a programme for everyone to learn not only about the leopard, but about the entire wildlife. In reality, it is not possible to reforest the lands that have been cultivated, and the houses that have been built cannot be removed. Relocating leopards will also not help to solve this issue. Therefore, the only practical solution is to make the communities live with the leopard. They should be provided with proper knowledge about how to avoid a leopard and how to minimise the damage caused by them.”

Although some are of the opinion that a leopard-human conflict has been created, the people living near the estates in upcountry areas themselves say that there is no serious problem. S. Sasitharan, who lives on a plot of land owned by a plantation company in Hatton, told The Daily Morning that although there have been a few incidents of leopards harming people and vice versa, a situation of the kind of a major crisis has not arisen. “Not only leopards, but many animals threaten people in various ways. The people are bitten by snakes and dogs and various other animals. However, it does not mean that it is a conflict between those animals and the people. Similarly, we also don’t face a critical situation due to leopards.” He further said that according to the attitude of each person, different interpretations can be given about the relationship between the leopard and humans. “Some people say that we consider the leopard as an enemy, but, I think that it is not correct to attribute it to be the attitude of an entire community. For example, when a snake approaches someone, they may react in different ways. Some may hit and kill the snake, and some others may capture it and release it into a nearby forest. Such is the attitude towards leopards. When a person sees a leopard, some may think of harming it, and some others may not do so.”

Affirming what the other parties opined, the Wildlife Conservation Department also stated recently that incidents of people encountering leopards in the upcountry areas were suddenly increasing in the recent past, but that it could not be attributed to a human-leopard conflict. The Department’s Director General Chandana Sooriyabandara said that the number of such incidents has been increasing in the last few months, but that the situation has been brought under control through several programmes. “We launched an awareness programme involving the people and the officials. In addition, the officials of the Department were provided with a standard operating procedure on how to deal with this matter. A system was also prepared to communicate with the tea plantations. With all those measures, the issue has been brought under control now.” Speaking further, he said that the habitats of the leopards living in the upcountry areas have been largely fragmented due to the tea plantations. “Leopards in these areas share habitats with people. For example, when people are plucking tea leaves in tea estates, leopards stay in other places, but come to those plantations and near the houses at night.”