21 July 2005
WWF – Pakistan concern and stance on the killing of leopards

LAHORE– WWF – Pakistan shares the grief of several families in Galliat that have lost their loved ones to recent killings, reportedly by the common leopard. This is a huge loss indeed.

The Common leopard, which is quite uncommon in Pakistan now, is one of those animals that have lost most of their populations to encroachment on their habitats and retaliatory killings because of their predatory nature.

While realising that the rural mountain communities are less aware of the importance of natural processes; and that their certain actions may, at times, induce dangerous changes in the otherwise tolerable behaviour of large predators, incidents like this could happen. In Pakistan , however, this has rarely happened before, especially because of Common leopard.

WWF - Pakistan believes that the animals that have adopted such behaviour should be removed from the problem zone. However, if these are killed out rightly, which might, at times, be the only option; the science will never reveal that information which is essential to avoid such incidence in the future. WWF – Pakistan 's Nathiagali Office team headed by Chief Technical Advisor Mr. Ashiq Ahmad Khan is investigating the matter and collecting information from the locals regarding the recent incident. All further development will be shared with the public and they will be kept abreast of the situation through press releases.

WWF - Pakistan further believes that if we have an effective Protected Area network, provided with adequate corridors, the leopards may never go out in the villages, and even if they do, they will never be that dangerous to human lives. Before anything like this happens again, it is high time to review the existing protected area system, assessing the habitat needs and food requirements of the animals they support, and start the implementation of measures that would improve such habitats to the desirable level. This will greatly curtail chances for leopards to do any damage like this .

For further information:
Amjad Aslam, WWF – Pakistan,
Ferozepur Road, Lahore.
UAN: 111-WWF-PAK(993-725)
Tel: +92 42 5862360, 5869429,
Fax: 042 5862358,
e-mail: aaslam@wwf.org.pk