Increasing Leopard-Car Collisions On KP’s Highways Indicate Expanding Population

Islamabad

The rising leopard-vehicle collisions along the highways of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in different districts of the province indicated a thriving population of the endangered common Asian leopard that seeks a national level of community awareness to respect the habitats and ecosystems of wildlife while venturing into the scenic hilly areas of the country.

Several incidents of leopards being hit by motorists, leaving the wildcat either dead or injured, are rampantly reported in the northern areas, particularly Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which is considered a tourism-rich area.

A senior officer of KP Wildlife department informed that an Asian leopard was found injured on the Kaghan Highway after being hit by a fast-moving automobile, leaving it terrified and unable to walk on her hind limbs. The leopard was a female cat that was timely recovered from Kaghan Highway and shifted to Dhodial Pheasantry, Mansehra, for treatment.

The divisional forest officer (DFO) Dhodial made the choice to release the leopardess back into the wild. He had overseen the wildcat’s rehabilitation because if it hadn’t fully recovered, it would lose its ability to hunt. As a result, it would attack humans, which are the weakest prey in her food chain.

The Wildlife official told that an injured hyena had been found earlier in the Koh-e-Suleiman area, and it had been treated in captivity, recovered, and then released back into the wild.

Because the wildcat regulates the population of wild boars, the rise in leopard numbers is not a danger but rather a sign of a healthy environment. Wild boars are harmful to agriculture, people, and ecology if they are present in large numbers, he added.

The KP’s Wildlife Department has a policy to maintain animals in their native habitats, he continued. The KP wildlife legislation is recently expanded to include the newly combined tribal districts, which are also likely habitats for wildlife like wolves, hyenas, and leopards.

In the Khyber districts, where there was a robust leopard population and leopard hunting was prevalent, there have been many clashes between humans and leopards.

Wild official said, “The wildlife agency documented many instances where people hunted down leopards as it attacked and devoured their livestock animals.”

He revealed that the department has started a compensation process by enlisting the deputy commissioner’s office to give cash payments in lieu of the animals the leopard had killed. Yet, it was the responsibility of the wildlife department to confirm that both the leopard and the aggrieved party were responsible for the livestock animal’s predation.

He added that while leopards are frequent in the Orakzai, South Waziristan, Karak, Kohat, and Hazara region, hyenas and wolves are more commonly found there.

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The official emphasised that since these locations are tourism hotspots and people desired to travel there, it has become crucial to provide community knowledge and education in order to ensure wildlife protection and promotion. Whereas some standard operating procedures have to be created to guarantee safety at all times.

“The wildlife department already presents educational talks on animal protection and conservation to students at schools and universities. The majority of the pupils among them are in crucial positions and have advanced degrees. They have in some ways helped the general public become more sensitive,” senior official apprised.

The department is also enlisting the help of religious figures, particularly during Jumma prayers, to help spread the word about the need to safeguard animals.

He explained that the wildlife department has committees at the village level to notify the residents of such instances and preventative actions to avert conflict.

The feature story has been published in APP

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