Suresh Raj, a 73-year-old gunsmith who lives inside a national park on the edge of the South Indian metropolis Bengaluru, has lost three dogs since last October, killed by free-moving leopards in the region. “It’s very normal for leopards to take our dogs — not something I’d resent, living in the forest,” says Suresh, who currently owns four dogs. Suresh has been living here for the last 40 years, within Bannerghatta National Park (BNP). Pitted with wild animals, the forest, which sits against the edges of one of India’s largest cities, once sheltered hundreds of people in scattered hamlets, until they were relocated when the land was acquired for the park. Dotted with shrinking scrub forests, rocky outcrops and gated communities, Bengaluru’s leopards (Panthera pardus) coexist with four endangered species: tigers (P. tigris), dholes (Cuon alpinus), elephants (Elephas maximus) and pangolins (Manis crassicaudata), alongside several small and large prey species and mammals. In a rapidly urbanizing India, wildlife species face the many risks of surviving in human-dominated landscapes. Yet leopards, among the most elusive apex predators, continue to persist across fragmented and peri-urban areas, despite being categorized as vulnerable under the IUCN Red list. A recent study by the Holématthi Nature Foundation and Nature Conservation Foundation found that Bengaluru, a city of more than 14 million people, is home to 80-85 leopards. This surpasses Mumbai, previously considered to have the highest density of leopards in the world. Two leopards photographed in India’s Satpura National Park, in Madhya Pradesh. Image by…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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