After reclaiming the 'Tiger State' tag earlier this year, Madhya Pradesh has achieved another milestone in wildlife conservation by almost doubling its leopard population to retain its number one position in the country by a big margin.
According to the Status of Leopards in India 2018 report released by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday, Madhya Pradesh has reported 3,421 spotted big cats—the highest number in the country.
Madhya Pradesh, therefore, is home to more than one-fourth (26 per cent) of all the 12,852 leopards estimated in the country as per the latest census. The state also has the highest number of tigers in the country at 526, according to the tiger estimate released by the ministry in July 2020.
The interesting point is that Karnataka with 1,783 leopards is at a distant second spot while Maharashtra with 1,690 of the species has the third-highest count in the country.
A comparative analysis shows that in four years, Madhya Pradesh added 1,604 leopards, which is an increase of more than 88 per cent over the 2014 estimation when MP reported 1,817 leopards. Overall, the country reported around 60 per cent increase in the leopard population, according to the Union minister.
Comparatively, Karnataka reported an increase of 654 leopards (58 per cent) in the same duration as it had 1,129 of the big cats in 2014. Maharashtra reported an increase of 785 leopards over its 2014 population of 905 (87 per cent increase).
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Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that after being the Tiger State, Madhya Pradesh has now also become the 'Leopard State' of India. He attributed the increase in population to “big steps taken for wildlife conservation”. He congratulated the MP forest department and all others linked to wildlife conservation for the achievement.
Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah has also congratulated the residents of the state and the employees and officers of the forest department for achieving number one position in the leopard population. “This is a moment of honour for us. The MP government is continuously committed to promotion of biodiversity,” he said.