LEOPARDS AND HUMANS

Leopard mosaic from ancient Rome

Leopards have been observed in the suburbs of Nairobi and taking naps in the shadows of parked safari vehicles. Three leopards were found living in a train station in the city of Kampala. As a rule leopards have been more resilient to habitat disturbances and human intrusions than lions, tigers or cheetahs in part because they are so adaptable and willing to eat anything.

Humans utilize leopards for the pet trade and their body parts are source of valuable material. They are an ecotourism draw. According to Animal Diversity Web: Leopards can be seen in National Parks throughout Asia and Africa. They help control baboon populations and disperse seeds that stick to their fur. Chiefs and warriors from tribal cultures throughout the leopard's geographic range wear their fur as a symbol of honor and courage. Tribal medicine men and women suggest leopard skins as a remedy for bad omens. Leopards are often captured for pet trade and are targeted by trophy hunters as well. When natural prey abundances are low, leopards have been known to kill livestock. Injured or sickly leopards have been known to hunt humans as easy prey. [Source: Ashley Hunt, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Leopards are the most difficult African animals to spot on a safari. Most people on safaris never see one and if they do they don not get close enough for a picture. Tribal people locate leopards by following dung, paw prints and other markings. Leopards often snoop around tourist lodges late at night when everyone is asleep. They drink from swimming pools and sometimes raid garbage cans. They sometimes enter villages to snatch dogs and livestock

A leopard skull dated to between 1440 and 1625 has been found in London’s Royal Menagerie. A section of the Tower of London called the Lion Tower contained a section for exotic animals that despite their rarity were often the star attraction of bloody bating events with dogs.

Websites and Resources on Animals: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; BBC Earth bbcearth.com; A-Z-Animals.com a-z-animals.com; Live Science Animals livescience.com; Animal Info animalinfo.org ; World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worldwildlife.org the world’s largest independent conservation body; National Geographic National Geographic ; Endangered Animals (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) iucnredlist.org

Endangered Leopards

Although leopard populations seem to be healthy in Africa, this is less the case in Asia. Their range is fragmented and encroached on by humans. Farmers kill leopards to protect their livestock. Because leopards often use the same pathways and caches they are easily baited, poisoned or shot. The clearing of trees and bushes to make charcoal and to make agricultural land has reduced the cover that leopards need to hunt.

On the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List leopard are listed as Near Threatened. On the US Federal List they are classified as Endangered. In CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild) they are in Appendix I, which lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants. [Source: Ashley Hunt, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

According to Animal Diversity Web: Leopards appear to show some resistance to minor habitat disturbances and are relatively tolerant of humans. Currently, leopards are protected throughout most of their range in west Asia; however, populations in this part of their range are too small to maintain stable growth. Although habitat reserves and national parks exist throughout their geographic range in Africa, a majority of leopards live outside these protected areas. Although leopards are the most populous of the "great cats", five of nine subspecies are listed as endangered or critically endangered. /=\

History of Leopard and Human Relations

Richard Conniff and Steve Winter wrote in National Geographic: Leopards are a young species: They emerged in their modern form as recently as 500,000 years ago. Like us, they spread out to populate a large chunk of the globe, from the southern tip of Africa to the Russian Far East, as well as west into Senegal and southeast to Indonesia. [Source: Richard Conniff & Steve Winter, National Geographic December 10, 2015]

They may have shadowed early humans, to take advantage of our ability to drive off lions and other competitors or, later, to pick off our livestock. We may have shadowed them to scavenge on their kills. (They are more vulnerable than other carnivores to scavenging because of their practice of stashing a kill under a bush or up a tree, then wandering off a short distance to rest, returning later to eat.)

By their predatory behavior, leopards imprinted themselves on the genomes of our fellow primates: Even monkeys that have never seen a leopard nonetheless display an instantaneous and heightened attentiveness to that spotted yellow coat. And so do we, with a curious mix of alarm and attraction. Our ambivalence is evident in the jarring mix of headlines that turn up in any news search for the word “leopard.” There’s often something warm (“Newborn Leopard Cubs Make History, Melt Your Heart”), something violent (“Another Leopard Attack in Junnar”), and something fashionably titillating (“Gisele Bündchen Rocks Leopard-Print Bikini in Costa Rica”). Often the headlines also speak of anger and vengeance.

Hunting and Poaching Leopards

hunting a leopard

About 2,500 leopards are permitted to be killed by hunters in Africa. Another, 2,500 or so are thought to be poached. Hunters pay $10,000 or more to hunt leopards. Scientist track leopards that have had transmitters implanted in them.

Describing a leopard hunt in “True at First Light”, Ernest Hemingway wrote: "One wounded leopard with terrible odds against him...had been shot from the high branch of a tree.” It “suffered a fall no human being could survive and had taken his stand in a place where, if he retained his lovely and unbelievable cat vitality, he could maim or grievously injure any human being who came after him."

Leopards were once slaughtered by the tens of thousands to supply pelts to the fashion industry. Several dozen leopards were sometimes killed to make a single coat. The spotted cat trade was hurt by the decline of the fur trade but rebounded to supply the Asian medicine market. Four raids in India in January 2000 netted 124 leopards skins, 18,080 claws from more than a thousand leopards. and 385 pounds of animals bones. Leopards are also available jn the exotic pet market. In the 1990s, a live North Chinese leopards could be bought for $1,250. In Texas, African leopards are listed in classified ads for $400.

Leopard pelts are still a sign of prestige in Africa. African leaders such as the Zulu king and the head of the Inkatha Freedom Party in South Africa still wear them. Mobutu, the late ;leader of Zaire, was famous for wearing a leopard skin hat.

When asked if he had ever gotten emotionally involved with the animals he was observing, Ullas Karanth, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's India Program, told the New York Times: “During the early 1990's, I was putting radio collars on tigers and leopards at Nagarahole reserve in southern India and then tracking their behavior. With time, this one leopard got really quite habituated to me. For two years, I'd follow him at night. I had a little laboratory in the middle of the forest, and this leopard used to come around at midnight frequently and I'd hear his call. Even half asleep, I'd turn on my receiver and when I'd pick up his signals, I felt, oh, O.K., there's my leopard. But one morning, his signal read as if he was lying inactive somewhere in the forest and I really got worried. When I finally located him, he was strung up like a lynching victim. The leopard had walked into a snare some poacher had set up for deer. Yes, I know, leopards have high mortality rates, and I'm not supposed to feel emotion. But when this happens to a creature you know, you can't be coldblooded. Incidents like this happen every day and their toll on animal life is cumulative. The killers are usually local people trying to get some protein. [Source: Claudia Dreifus, New York Times, August 16, 2005]

Leopard Killed in a School in India

In January 2005, in Phillaur (Chandigarh) a leopard was killed after injuring seven inside school The two-year-old male leopard was discovered under a bench in a classroom of Arya National Secondary School at 8:15 in the morning. Police shot it after a two-hour struggle. Jupinderjit Singh of the Tribune News Service wrote: “An over two-year-old male leopard that was found sitting under a bench in a classroom of Arya National Secondary School, near the grain market here, was shot dead by a team of the Phillaur police today after an over two-hour long struggle during which it injured three policemen and spread panic in the town. [Source: Jupinderjit Singh, Tribune News Service, January 24, 2005]

The leopard “was spotted by a peon and a student of the school at about 8.15 a.m., Less than 15 students were in the building at that time. The leopard kept moving from one room to the other before it jumped from the roof and disappeared for more than 15 minutes. He was later tracked hiding under a bush in an open space of a house behind the school. He was shot at by the policemen, who used AK-47, and SLR besides .303 guns.The bullets had pierced through its body as none were found during the post-mortem examination conducted at the Division Forest Office, Phillaur. There were four bullet wounds in the body.It could have been saved and caught alive if there was a better crisis management done by the police and the state Wildlife Department. The leopard could have been easily locked in the school room, but this was not done.

Though a tranquiliser gun was available less than 10 km away at the tiger safari near Amaltas, the police opted to catch him on its own and subsequently killed it after taking permission over the phone from the state Wildlife Department. Though wildlife officials were present during the controversial operation, no one was an expert in catching wild animals.

The leopard had probably strayed in to the thickly populated area in search of food after its natural habitat in the Shivalik hills was engulfed with snow in the past few days. Wildlife experts suggest that he could have travelled along the Sutlej before venturing in to the town. There was no sign that the leopard was a man-eater and its attack on policemen seemed to be a panic reaction. He entered the school sometime during the night through an open door in an under-construction portion of the school. From there it went to the first floor and settled in a room.

Though a peon of the school was sleeping in the room from which it entered the building, the leopard passed quietly from near the peon’s cot. He did not attack the school staff or students. Sapna, a class X student of the school and daughter of a peon, Ashok Kumar, who lives on the school premises, told The Tribune that she and her aunt Kashmiro had gone to the room at about 8.15 a.m. when they were shocked at the sight of the leopard. “My aunt cleans the room daily at this hour and I always accompany her to keep my bag,” she said. Initially they thought it was a big cat but when Ashok Kumar threw a stick at it and it jumped out of the room they saw its size and shouted that it was a leopard.

The leopard, however, seemed in no mood to leave the school premises. Dr Rajinder Passi, general secretary of the school management, and the policemen reached the school immediately and cordoned off the area. The main gate of the school was closed and students told to go home. According to Bhajan Lal, one of the three injured policemen, the leopard could have been caught alive if it had not attacked them. He along with constables Sanjay Kumar and Sohan Lal suffered injuries on their arms and heads. The three were being praised for their bravery. Sanjay Kumar had even grappled with the wild animal. He also fired at him but missed. Mr A.C. Dogra, Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, confirmed that his permission was taken over the phone.

Leopard Triggers Panic at a Hospital in Meerut, India

In February 2014, AFP reported: “A leopard sparked panic in Meerut on Sunday when it strayed inside a hospital, a cinema and an apartment block while evading captors. Authorities closed schools and colleges in Meerut, a town in Uttar Pradesh state some 60 kilometres northeast of New Delhi, after the leopard was discovered prowling the city’s streets, a senior city official said. “Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to track the leopard down. We have launched a massive hunt for the beast,” said a police official. [Source: AFP, February 25, 2014]

The cat was found inside an empty ward of an army hospital before wildlife officers were called and managed to fire a tranquiliser dart into it. “But despite that he managed to break (out through) the iron grilles and escaped. He then sneaked into the premises of a cinema hall before entering an apartment block. After that we lost track of the cat,” the official added. Authorities have urged the closure of markets in the city of 3.5 million until the animal, which has left six people injured, was captured.

Leopard Runs into House Before Being Captured in South India

In 2020, a leopard ran into a house, triggering a frantic search and a frenzy of attention in southern India before finally being caught and tranquilized. “The big cat emerged from the Kamdanam forest and ran into a house in Shadnagar town in Telangana state, said Dr. Mohammad Abdul Hakeem, a wildlife official. Even with tranquilizers it takes 20 minutes to sedate a cat.[Source: Associated Press January 20, 2020]

Associated Press reported: “After people were evacuated from the immediate area, wildlife officials worked to catch the animal and residents swarmed to watch and snap photos. A video shot by a resident showed the leopard resting on the terrace of a house. “The leopard was transported to the zoo, where it will be kept under observation and released back into the forests after couple of days,” said Hakeem.

Indian Woman Kills Leopard with Sickle after it Attacks Her

In 2014, 56-year-old woman killed a leopard with a sicle after it attacked her as she tended her fields. The woman told Indian broadcaster CNN-IBN that she battled with the leopard for half an hour on Sunday morning before finally delivering a killer blow with her sickle. [Source: Agence France-Presse, 27 August 2014]

"The leopard lunged at me many times and we fought for a long time," she told the channel from her hospital bed in the northern state of Uttarakhand, her arms bandaged and a big scar across her right cheek. "I got hold of my sickle and fought with it. That's when the leopard was killed," said the woman, named as Kamla Devi.

Devi, who was widowed a few years ago, told the Hindustan Times she was terrified when the leopard attacked, but was determined not to succumb. "I gathered my courage to fight back. I promised myself that this is not my last day here," she told the paper.

She told AFP that she grabbed the ear of the attacking leopard with her right hand and kept swinging at the animal with the sickle in her left. Hearing Devi's screams for help, villagers in the Rudraprayag district came running but the leopard was dead by the time they reached her, a witness, Jagdish Singh, said.

Dr Rakesh Rawat said Devi's injuries, which include fractured hands and deep cuts on her body, were not life threatening and she was recovering. Leopard attacks are relatively common in rural areas of India, although it is rare for the leopard to come off worse. In 2009 a nine-year-old boy in the same state fought off a leopard that had attacked his sister.

Man-Eating Leopard Hunter

Rama Lakshmi wrote in the Washington Post, “Hiding in the bushes along a river, Lakhpat Singh Rawat heard mountain deer bark. He peered through the scope of his hunting rifle and wondered whether the leopard that recently carried away the 2-year-old village boy was approaching. Within minutes, a brown form moved slowly across a grassy patch. When his assistant directed a powerful light at the animal, Rawat eased his finger from the trigger. "This is not the man-eating leopard I am hunting for. This one is much younger," Rawat whispered, plucking the weeds off his camouflage jacket.[Source: Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, October 8, 2009]

“The mustached 45-year-old with sharp eyes and oiled hair is a revered hunter of man-eating leopards in Uttarakhand. Since 2002, Rawat has killed 27 big cats with the state's permission, earning both fanfare and flak in a battle between humans and wildlife conservation. Villagers hail him as a savior for eliminating the leopards that eat people, mostly children. But activists question a system that encourages him to hunt an endangered species.

“But Rawat, who is a schoolteacher, said a spate of leopard attacks on children in 2002 stirred his conscience. "Twelve schoolchildren were killed by a crafty leopard that picked them from wedding parties," the sharpshooter recalled. "Nobody was able to catch the animal. I could not watch this go on. I am a good shot, and I volunteered."

“Now, almost every villager in the area knows Rawat. He is called the "Leopard Killer," and he gets fan mail. When he kills a wild cat, villagers anoint his forehead with sandalwood paste and chant slogans. They also anoint the dead leopard before it is taken for forensic analysis and cremation. "The leopard is a holy animal. It is the vehicle" of one of the Hindu goddesses, Rawat said. "I do penance and pray every day when I hunt."

“Despite his hero-like image, Rawat is not without fear. He recently petitioned the Uttarakhand Forest Department to give him insurance when he goes to hunt. "I have the license to shoot only man-eating leopards," he said. "But when I go to hunt, it is the Himalayan black bear and snakes that I fear most."

Critics of Hunting Man-Eating Leopards

Rama Lakshmi wrote in the Washington Post, “Those who study the biology and behavior of leopards question the continued hunting of the animals. "When we kill or capture and move them, we do not understand how we affect their ecosystem and social structure. It causes them tremendous psychological stress, and chances of conflict increase," said Vidya Athreya, a wildlife biologist with the Kaati Trust. "When the old ones are killed, new leopards come into the area." She added that villagers often fail to distinguish between accidental and deliberate attacks by leopards. [Source: Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, October 8, 2009]

“In April 2009, Rawat shot a 7-year-old leopard that was later found to be pregnant with twin cubs. Angry activists said the animal could have been trapped instead. Critics also say that adequate analysis is not done before the leopards are killed. "There is no guarantee that the leopards he kills are the same ones that kill people," said Hem Singh Gehlot, an activist working in villages located near wildlife pockets. "How long do they observe the animal and trace its routes before killing it? Relying on [footprints] is not enough."

“Under Indian law, leopards and tigers are endangered species. A tiger is declared a man-eater only after it kills six human beings, but the rules for leopards are flexible. Gehlot said that the effort is always to capture a man-eating tiger but that a man-eating leopard is often killed. Rawat wants officials to train villagers to tranquilize the animals, and he advocates putting radio collars on leopards. But rangers say it is impossible to tag the animals because there are so many of them and they are not restricted to one area.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated January 2025