NEW DELHI: In a first, the Central government is planning to introduce immunocontraceptives as an experimental population management tool for leopards, particularly in areas where the human-leopard conflict is more pronounced.
To pursue this, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change plans to file a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to lift the existing order so that experimental research can resume.
“We believe there is a need for scientific studies on the use of immunocontraceptives for the management of leopard populations,” said a senior official familiar with the development.
This comes after the leopard population grew by roughly 8% from 12,852 in 2018 to 13,874 in 2022. Further, there has been a rise in the number of the big cat’s sightings in areas where it was previously less common. This trend has corresponded with a rise in the human–leopard conflict in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Rajasthan. As India’s most adaptable large carnivore, leopards are widely distributed across diverse habitats, including human-dominated landscapes. It is their adaptability and ability to use fragmented habitats that have increased interactions with humans.
The plan gains significance as an SC bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramajit Sen had in September 2014 restrained the West Bengal government from implementing its proposal to sterilise elephants or any other wildlife using immunocontraceptives to control their population. The court had passed the order on a plea related to the death of elephants on railway tracks in West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
“The 2014 order, where the court had described the move as ‘impermissible’ and ‘condemnable,’ explicitly barred the government from using any such intervention,” the official noted, adding, “The ministry plans to argue in court for experimental research. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have provided a detailed note explaining how immunocontraceptives could be administered to the rapidly expanding leopard population.”
Dr Raman Sukumar of IISc, a well-known ecologist who was earlier a member of the National Wildlife Board and had initially proposed the idea in coordination with the Bengal government, explained, “The immunocontraceptives would be administered to female leopards to control their population. The current court order even prohibits experimentation.” He noted this was successfully implemented elsewhere.