India has 13,874 leopards, with the heart of the country — Madhya Pradesh — having the largest number of its third-biggest felid, a landmark report released by the Centre on February 29, 2024 showed. The pan-India population of the Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) was estimated at 13,874 (Range: 12,616–15,132) individuals.

Maintaining habitats amidst a mosaic multiple-use landscape connecting the protected areas is important to maintain ecosystem balance as well as viable and genetically diverse populations.

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, released the population estimation protocol to be adopted in the exercise to be taken up for the All India elephant and tiger population estimation in 2022.

The Environment Minister released the report ‘Status of Leopards, Co-predators and Megaherbivores-2018’ stating that the report is a testimony to the fact that conservation of tigers leads to the conservation of entire ecosystem.

India's leopard population increased from 8,000 to over 12,500 in four years since 2014, Environment Minister said, asserting the rise in their numbers following similar reports on tiger and lion shows the country is protecting its ecology and biodiversity well.

As per the information received from the State Forest Department of Uttar Pradesh, six persons have lost their lives in man-leopard conflict in Bijnaur District of Uttar Pradesh during the year 2019-2020.

The report titled “Status of Common Leopard in Katerniaghat Wildlife Division” is an outcome of a comprehensive study of the leopard population and its distribution within the Katerniaghat Wildlife Division (WLD) in Uttar Pradesh, carried out by WWF India, in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department.