The rapidly growing leopard population in the state has fueled this policy of big cat celibacy at the Sakkarbagh center in Junagadh. In fact, saved leopard Coed accommodation is not provided. The facility now houses 52 captive leopards – 24 males and 28 females – while it only has room for 60 animals in total. “The wild-caught leopards are not allowed to breed in the rescue centre. Male and female are kept separately,” confirmed a senior Gujarat Forest Department official.
‘No value in conservation of leopards’
Every time the Sakkarbagh rescue center hits its capacity, the leopards are shifted to a nearby rescue centre. In the last two years, 108 leopards have been shifted from Sakkarbagh to Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Center (GZRRC) in Jamnagar. RIL’s Director of Corporate Affairs Parimal Nathwani said, “We receive leopards at GZRRC from Sakkarbagh in line with our MoU with the Gujarat government.”
“We look after the rescued leopards that are not immediately fit to be released into the wild,” Nathwani said. “Our aim is to serve the injured and sick leopards and their orphan cubs,” Nathwani said.
There are already about 40 leopards in another forest department facility in the Devaliya range of Gir-Somnath district. Gujarat’s official wildlife census shows that the leopard population increased to 3,200 in 2021 from 1,395 in 2016.
The decision to segregate male and female leopard populations is based on a notification issued by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) on 6 August 2014. “Leopard and other breeding species do not, inter alia, have conservation value,” the notification said.
“Leopards can mate and breed in any natural setting, including sugarcane fields and shrubs,” said RD Kamboj, former director of the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation.
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