Rajasthan forest department is going to launch India’s first ever Project leopard. The department has identified three wildlife sanctuaries for the pilot project to protect leopard and its habitats. The project will start at the three sanctuaries at a cost of Rs 21 crore on an experimental basis. The pilot project will be implemented at Jaisamand Sanctuary (Udaipur), Kumbhalgarh Sanctuary-Raoli Todgarh Sanctuary (stretch of Aravalli Hills extended from Ajmer to Udaipur), and Jhalana Aamagarh Conservation Reserve (Jaipur).
The project is aimed at conserving the endangered animal by improving its prey base and mitigating conflicts with humans and controlling poaching. According to wildlife census of 2015, in Rajasthan there are only 434 leopards. Leopard is an endangered species under schedule one of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The project borrows its basic features from the Project Tiger launched by the Centre in 1973.
