Dhenkanal: In good news for wildlife enthusiasts, the leopard population is on the increase in Dhenkanal district as around 10 leopards were found in the district’s forests in the latest tiger census conducted by the state government.
Forest department sources said photographs of large number of leopards were captured by the trap cameras installed in Kandhara reserve forest under Hindol forest range, Kamakhyanagar west, and Anantapur reserve forest under Mahabirod range. It was revealed that the Kandhara reserve forest in the district is the densest and most suitable for free movement of wildlife as it is bordered by the Satkosia reserve forest in Angul district and the Badamba and Narsinghpur reserve forests in Cuttack district. This is why the Kandhara forest is said to be a paradise for wildlife. Leopards do not live in one place and keep moving to different forests. Hence the leopards in Kandhara forest mostly migrate towards Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary, Badamba and Narsinghpur forests. It has been confirmed by examining the scratch marks left by the leopards’ nails on trees in different forests through scientific process.
Forest officials are hopeful that Kandhara reserve forest which covers 11,411.15 hectares of land will be suitable for tiger conservation projects in the future. The reported spurt in the number of leopards in Dhenkanal district has come as a good news for the Forest department. About the presence of tigers, however, Dhenkanal district’s divisional forest officer Sumit Kumar Kar said, “In the current tiger census, it seems that there are no Royal Bengal Tigers in Dhenkanal district.” However, about 10 leopards have been identified by the camera traps and other evidences. The presence of leopards is a good sign, he added.