News: TRAFFIC India has released a paper titled ‘‘SPOTTED’ in Illegal Wildlife Trade: A Peek into Ongoing Poaching and Illegal Trade of Leopards in India’.
Facts:
Key Takeaways:
- The seizure and mortality of ‘common leopards’ revealed that of the total of 747 leopard deaths between 2015-2019 in India, 596 were linked to illegal wildlife trade and activities related to poaching.
- The highest numbers of poaching incidents were reported from the States of Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.
Additional Facts:
Indian Leopard(Common Leopard):
- Indian Leopard: It is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent.
- Habitat: It is distributed in India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Pakistan.
- IUCN Status: Vulnerable
- Threats: Habitat Destruction, Human-Animal Conflict and Illegal Wildlife Trade.
TRAFFIC: It is the leading non-governmental organisation(NGO) working globally on the trade of wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity and sustainable development.
- Founded in: It was founded in 1976 as a strategic alliance of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- Location: Cambridge, UK
