By IANS
Jaipur : An animal protection group has criticised the government over increasing cases of deaths of panthers in Rajasthan, where at least 15 big cats have died in four months.
“In the last over four months, at least 15 panthers have died due to various reasons in the state. It is a big figure. It seems that the government is not serious over the issue,” said Babulal Jaju of People for Animals.
He said the government should be more vigilant on these issues.
As per the 2004 wildlife census, there are over 550 panthers in the state with Sawai Madhopur, which houses Ranthambore National Park, having a maximum of over 83 of the cats.
“If the government is not serious, then the day is not far off when the state will lose its wildlife,” Jaju added.
On Friday, villagers in Srinagar of Ajmer district killed a panther when it entered their village and attacked a 70-year-old woman.
A month ago, a panther was found shot dead in a farmhouse in Prem Nagar in Amber near Jaipur recently.
While another was beaten to death in Bhojipura village near Ranthambore National Park, 170 km from here. Villagers later hung the dead panther by its neck from a tree. They said the panther trespassing in human habitat had killed 15 goats and one cow in last one month.
Meanwhile, a study is being conducted on behavioural patterns of panthers in the Sariska forest area of Rajasthan, over 140 km from the state capital Jaipur.
Some panthers are being fitted with radio collars to study their behavioural patterns after the big cats strayed out of the forest and attacked humans.
“This is the first time that such a study is being undertaken in the country in which the use of habitat, the travelling pattern and eating habits of panthers would be monitored and analysed,” a forest official said.
According to wildlife experts, panthers prefer to roam alone in the wild and are almost entirely solitary. They hunt a wide variety of animals, mainly birds and small mammals, but sometimes they kill deer and nilgai.
However, these wild cats have of late started to intrude into areas inhabited by humans and there have been reports of their attacking people in both rural as well as urban areas.
“This study would certainly help in studying this growing problem and in finding a solution”, official said.