Wildlife moves in to save leopards

By Ifham Nizam

The Wildlife Conservation Department has initiated a programme to protect leopards in the mountains.A senior official of the Department yesterday said that they had tested a new protective net on Saturday (23) at the Nuwara Eliya Galway’s land National Park.

The trial of this safety net took place with the participation of the Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.The official said a large number of leopards had perished in traps set by villagers.About six leopards in the mountains have died in traps so far this year.

Wildlife officials were able to save the lives of five others.Between 2001 and 2021, 145 leopards were killed in Sri Lanka, and 72 percent of the incidents were reported from the Central hills.

About 17 leopards have been killed from 2020 to 2021.According to reports, the leopard population in Sri Lanka is about over 600. About71 percent of all leopard kills so far have been caused

by traps.Several officials including the secretaries of the Ministry Gunadasa Samarasinghe and Chandra Herath participated in this event.