Leopards mistaken for tigers in Adilabad

People are mistakenly assuming leopards as tigers due to lack of familiarity with wildlife even as the risk factor is almost similar when they attack humans and cattle or are sighted.

Adilabad: Both forests and plains in erstwhile Adilabad district are seeing a considerable rise in movement of tigers and leopards following the onset of winter, considered the season of mating for big cats. However, people are mistakenly assuming leopards as tigers due to lack of familiarity with wildlife even as the risk factor is almost similar when they attack humans and cattle or are sighted.

A leopard was sighted while crossing NH 363 road near Asifabad-Kagaznagar cross roads in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district on Wednesday. Motorists recorded the video of the leopard and shared it on social media platforms claiming that a tiger was seen on the national highway, triggering panic in surrounding villages. A few days ago, a leopard killed a wild boar in the forests of Ameenpur village in Rebbena mandal. However, locals presumed that it was a tiger. Forest officials who visited the spot and recorded the pugmarks clarified that it was a leopard. They said no tiger was moving in the forests of Ameenpur in recent times.

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On October 29 night, a leopard attacked a herd of sheep between Rapelli and Gudipet villages in Hajipur mandal of Mancherial district. Shepherd and locals feared that it might be a tiger which killed the sheep. Forest officials had to step in again and clarify that it was a leopard after checking pugmarks.

Elsewhere in Adilabad and Nirmal districts, similar instances of mistaking leopards for tigers were reported in the month of October and November. Forest officials verified the claims of the locals and clarified that the wild animals which killed cattle were in fact leopards. People are apparently confused in identifying the carnivores due to lack of awareness over distinct patterns on coats, lifestyle, pugmarks, hunting styles of both leopards and tigers.

Forest officials said pugmarks of leopards were smaller than that of tigers. However, the practice of mistaking leopards for tigers has become a headache for forest officials, who are forced to provide clarity over the movement of wild animals by inspecting the spot of the sighting and attack, when they are busy in tracking movement of a tiger that had killed a woman and attacked a farmer.

Similarly, they are struggling to control circulation of fake videos and messages going viral on social media platforms, creating panic among locals. They have requested public to verify facts before sharing images and videos of a wild animal on WhatsApp or Facebook.