India's first leopard reserve offers lessons in coexistence, conservation

Every day as the sun begins to set, Nandi, the old keeper of a gaushala (cow shed) near Chulgiri Jain temple, merely 20 minutes from Jai­pur’s commercial hub Mirza Ismail Road, begins his daily task. Steel buckets of water in either hand and a bag of seed on his shoulder, he goes to the forest behind his home to fill the dozen-odd water holes that he and other residents have built. “These arid hills are home to several leopards that have strayed from Jhalana Leopard Safari Park,” he says. “This water helps them survive Jaipur’s summer.”

Nandi is not alone in his conc­ern for leopards. In and around Jaipur, communities have long co-existed with these charismatic cats. “Over the decades, humans and leopards have developed a symbiotic relationship in the areas aro­u­nd Jaipur,” says Swapnil Kumbhoj­kar, a researcher studying Jha­l­a­na’s leopards. The area presents the classic traits of island biogeography — a fragment of a forest with un­ique biodiversity in the heart of Jai­pur that has a population of 3.1 mill­ion people. So far, in this urban co­ntext, Jhalana’s leopards have pe­rformed vital ecosystem services.

“On analysing their faeces, we’ve found 50 per cent of their diet comprises dogs,” says Kumbhojkar. Keeping the stray dog population under check has hugely benefited the local population. The forest has become a temperature and pollutant sink, especially after illegal mining came to a virtual standstill when Jhalana became India’s first leopard reserve in 2016. “Local communities, most of whom work in Jaipur city, say that they appreciate the clean, cool environment around the reserve, a direct result of the thriving forest all around,” he says. Last, being opportunistic eaters, leopards scavenge carcasses of cattle that villagers would otherwise find hard to dispose of.

In a survey of perceptions of local stakeholders in 18 villages around the sanctuary about leopards and conservation, Kumbhojkar found 83 per cent respondents were aware of their role in the ecosystem. “A majority of the population here belongs to the Jain and Gujar communities and believe in non-viole­nce and taking care of animals as a religious duty,” he says. Thanks to local cooperation and regular mon­itoring through cameras and pat­ro­lling, there has been a boom in the population of the spotted felids.

Leopard population has risen from 19 in 2017 to over 36 today. Last year, 10 newborn cubs were re­corded and this year, three more have already been sighted on the camera traps. “Today, Jhalana presents a unique opportunity to study leopards in an environment in which they are apex predators,” says Kumbhojkar, who has documented possibly the only evidence of thanatological expression (behaviour exhibited towards the dead) in leopards in 2019.

FOREST IN THE CITY

• Jhalana Leopard Reserve is the first leopard reserve in India
• It has more than 35 leopards in approximately 20 sq km
• Home to 132 bird species, 33 mammals, 20 reptiles
• Distance from Jaipur airport: 6.8 km
• Bookings at the gate of the reserve one hour before safari, or online at https://sso.rajasthan.gov.in

“We saw a female with two cubs protecting a third dead cub from two striped hyenas,” he recalls. “She licked the cub’s body and then placed it out of reach of the scavenging hyenas in a cactus thicket.” The researcher, who is also a certified game ranger at South Africa’s Kruger National Park and has worked on carnivore conservation in Namibia, reckons that Jhalana is a rare environment where leopards do not have to compete with tigers to survive.

For a reserve forest about 20 square km in size, with corridors to adjoining forests cut off by state and national highways, the baby boom among Jhalana’s leopards is not all good news. “Thanks to amp­le prey and proper patrolling, leopards are moving out of Jhalana now,” says Rohit Gangwal of World of Wilders, which organises safaris in Jhalana. While female sub-adults tend to stay in their mother’s territory (Kumbhojkar calls it “staying in the family business”) young males are venturing further and further away. In December 2019, a leopard strayed into a posh colony in Jaipur and could not be located for days. Thirty-two leopards have died or gone missing since 2012 to date, victims of territorial fights, poaching, road accidents and more.

As dusk falls near the Chulgiri Temple, children drive home herds of goat and sheep. Nandi says a leopard has been passing this way every evening these days. “Child­ren, even the elderly, are an easy target for leopards, if they decide to hunt them,” muses Kumbhojkar.

With rising leopard numbers, more conflicts with humans are bound to happen. Inbreeding among leopards is another concern. Developing viable animal corridors is the only solution, local conservationists say. Else, Jhalana will remain a cautionary tale for proponents of rewilding, a magical little wild forest in the heart of a city with too many leopards with too few places to go to.