Recently three skins of leopard or panther have been seized by forest employees of the Rairangpur range under Karanjia division from poachers. The whole Rairangpur revenue sub-division is a man made barren land for exploitation of iron ores and other industrial activities. The Tata unit of Jamshedpur in the divided Bihar province has wide ramification over the adjoining Odisha belt.
Rairangpur is situated in vicinity of the Similipal tiger project and Similipal hill range. The leopard is also known as panther and locally known as Tenduwa in Hindi. In western Odisha, it is known as Tenduwa and in other parts of the State, it is known as Kalara Pataria Bagha.It is a hunting animal like tiger, lion, and Cheetah and included within the group of big cats. This animal always prefers to stay within dense forests having thick under foliages and bushes.The average total length of the animal is 7 ft or 215cm. when the female remains 30cm or less. Again, when weight of the male animal comes to 68 to 70kg, the female’s comes to 50kg, but the weight size of animal always varies on the basis of variations of climate and for gene factors.
According to late SH Prater, the animal belonging to the Indian peninsula is sleek, short –haired with bright fulvous coat. The whole coat is marked with close small set of black rosettes. The variations in colour and size are always noticed right from desert to peninsula and Himalayan regions. The animals noticed in deserts are always pale but the animal of Himalayan regions like Kashimir are having thick – rammed rosettes. In Odisha, the rosettes are dark and give easy scope to the animal to hide itself from the notice of other big cats and prey animals. The Indian race of panther is noticed in the whole of undivided India which extends up to Burma and Ceylon and Nepal. There are eleven races of panther found in whole of Asia and out of these three races are found in India. In Odisha the animals found belong to the peninsular races and of two verities like black type and general verities. The third type ‘Cheetah’ has long disappeared from Odisha and also from whole of India. These two are also now on the verge of extinction due to indiscriminate killing and loss of habitats.
Panther is a very peculiar animal among big cats. It can adapt with any kind of circumstances and change its habitat to variable conditions. The animal can remain in open country and within the rocks and scrubs, and conceal itself. The writer quite remembers that a panther used to come to a village in Baripada revenue sub- division for stealing cattle at night. later, it was caught and killed by the villagers. In another instance, a panther hunted a village dog in Jayapatna village in Kalahandi district during 1959, when the writer was working in Kashipur forest division. Both the forest divisions are rich in wild lives and biodiversities of tropical region. In both, the panthers of block and general types with glittering rosettes are found. The writer personally came across a black – panther in Thakurmunda area of Similipal tiger reserve in 1992; so also, a black tiger in the reserve in 1982. The writer however missed the opportunity to take photographs of animals.
The panther can kill and eat anything and everything like cattle, deer, monkey, including smaller beasts of prey. Big animals like Sambar, Nilgai, wild buffaloes and elephants are not preyed by panther. The worst enemies of this animal are tigers, wild dogs and hyenas as these carnivores always compete for food with the leopards.
In the changed circumstances, the panther is now frequently seen within human habitats and particularly living outside the forest for collection of food. Now its main pray are the domestic animals, caves sheep, goats and quite commonly village dogs. This is because wild beasts are not available within forest areas any more. The panther also conceals itself within the bushes or overcharging branches and suddenly attacks the prey animals. It also attacks human beings. The panther is more dreadful than tiger as it is unpredictable. The breeding period of panther is round the year, but generally it is winter. The gestation period of panther is three months. Generally two cubs are produced at a time. But occasionally it is 3 to 4. The eyes of the cubs open within one week. Within 3-4months the cubs get ready to arrange food for them.Another type of leopard is snow leopard. This is always distinctive from the common ones. Its muzzle is short with high forehead and vertical chin. The habitat of this animal is too long, extending from the Kashmir to Bhutan. This species is also noticed in Tibet and Central Asia. This species never comes across in the tropical boundary of southern eastern and western States of India. The species is also hunt for its skin.
Similarly there is clouded leopard. The animal has a long body, long tail and short limbs with rounded black scars and a grayish patch in the centre. The structure of its feet is much similar to that of panther and its near relatives of other two big cats lion and tiger.This animal is found only in Assam but it is a species of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Burma and south China. The leopard, panther, tiger, lion and other big cat species are killed only for their skins. Their skins are much in demand for manufacturing coat, jacket, bag and other leather items. There are certain tribal races which eat the flesh of these animals. But the oil from the flesh of the big cats is used for medicinal purposes. Other than oil, secret parts of tigers are used as lucky bones.The writer remembers how a top police officer of the then district administration of Mayurbhanja district had insisted him to get a pair of lucky bones of tiger in 1975. The royal Bengal tiger has greater breeding potentiality compared to other cats. In Nandankanan, these three big cats such as lion, tiger and panther are grown under captivity.
The whole Similipal wild life sanctuary consists of 2,200 sqkm. This area is very much vulnerable to poaching of elephants, tigers, panthers and other types of carnivores and herbivores including birds and reptiles and also amphibians. The poachers get easy access to markets like Jamsedpur and Kolkata after killing animals here. The staff pattern of Similipal sanctuary and tiger reserve is quite insufficient to control poaching and smuggling. Again the geographic diversities and richness attract the people for mining in the region causing havoc for its biodiversities.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)
