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With another leopard killed in a trap, the
question that arises is Sri Lanka heading for a Human-Leopard
conflict?:
Predator in peril
Even as foreign visitors to Yala rave about
leopard sightings, leopard obituaries are becoming an all too common
news item, leading one to wonder just how unsafe life has become for
this magnificent lonely predator.The latest addition to the dead
leopard list is the magnificent seven-foot ‘Panthera pardus kotiya’
caught in a trap in Top Pass woods in Nuwara Eliya last week. The
leopard’s body was found by wildlife officers, and the corpse is now
lying with the Nuwara Eliya Wildlife School. Taxidermy may preserve
the animal showcasing a sample of the magnificent predator, but
nothing underscores the tragedy of yet another leopard killed by
human means, more so as the killing had occurred within the
sanctuary meant to protect it. Whether the trap was meant for
leopards or some other predator, one may never know. But the
inescapable reality is that a snare is the worst way to kill an
animal, especially a leopard.
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