TRAFFIC study on leopards

TRAFFIC India has released a paper titled ‘‘SPOTTED’ in Illegal Wildlife Trade: A Peek into On-going Poaching and Illegal Trade of Leopards in India’.
It is a study on the seizure and mortality of ‘common leopards’ (Panthera pardus fusca).
The highest numbers of poaching incidents were reported from the States of Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.
The last formal census on India’s leopards was conducted in 2014, which estimated the population between 12,000 and 14,000.
The results of a recent census of leopard sightings are likely to be released soon by the Wildlife Institute of India.
TRAFFIC, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, is the leading non-governmental organisation working globally on the trade of wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity and sustainable development.
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).