CORRIDORS OF CONFLICT

IN UTTARAKHAND, TIGERS ARE APPEARING WHERE THEY WERE ONCE UNKNOWN AND LEOPARDS ARE NO LONGER RARE INTRUDERS, FUELLING CONFLICT, AND LEAVING SCORES OF DEATHS AND INJURIES IN THEIR WAKE

- BY AVANEESH MISHRA

FADING BOUNDARIES A camera trap in May 2025 captured a Bengal tiger in the Sunderdhunga Glacier Valley, at nearly 9,875 feet; right, a leopard suspected of killing a boy was trapped in a cage in Rudraprayag district in early February

EARLY IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, A LEOPARD SNATCHED FIVE-YEAR-OLD DAKSH BISHT from the courtyard of his home in Sindravani village of mountainous Rudraprayag district. “His mother started screaming,” recalls Vinod Rana, husband of the village pradhan. “We ran towards the forest. By then, the sun had set and we were searching with the flashlights of our mobile phones. Forest teams reached around 8 or 9 pm. The child’s mauled body was found around 11 pm, roughly a kilometre away. This was the first killing here in decades.” The leopard was later trapped, but not before fear and unease took firm hold over the entire village.

Across Uttarakhand, the buffer between forest and habitation seems to be fast disappearing. Leopards have been found roaming inside residential colonies in the towns of Nainital, Haldwani and parts of Dehradun. CCTV clips of big cats walking past parked cars circulate widely.

As big cats stray from forest boundaries, human-animal conflict is bound to escalate. Leopards were responsible for 97 deaths and 533 injuries between 2021 and 2025. Tigers follow with 59 deaths—with a sharp rise evident from 2022 onward—along with 36 injuries during the same period (see Big Cat Attacks). Over the past 25 years, more than 900 people have been killed by various wild animals across the state. Of these, as many as 371 deaths, along with 2,015 injuries, have been reported in the past five years alone.

• 97* PEOPLE KILLED and 533 injured by leopards in Uttarakhand in the last five years

• 59* DEATHS and 36 injuries were caused by tigers

• 371* PEOPLE KILLED and 2,015 injured by various wild animals.