Sugarcane fields from Bijnor to Haridwar have turned into leopard homes, reshaping their behaviour and creating a deepening human-wildlife conflict. A rising tiger population in nearby reserves has pushed leopards into farmlands, while the easy shelter and food in these tall crops have made many of them unwilling — and in some cases unable — to survive in forests again.
Sugarcane fields become permanent leopard hideouts
In Bijnor, 40 of the 92 leopards caught over the last four years were not released. Uttarakhand’s forest department has recorded 96 rescues since 2021. Even when officers try relocating them deep inside Rajaji Tiger Reserve, radio-collared leopards have walked back more than 30 km to the cane fields.
Pugmarks now appear first at the forest edge and then wind deeper into the fields. Officers say many leopards have grown rounder at the waist, their claws have dulled and their instincts have weakened — all signs of animals adapting to a habitat that feeds them without demanding real hunting.
Pushed out by tigers
Tiger numbers rising in reserves like Rajaji and Amangarh, where Amangarh alone jumped from 12 to 34 tigers in a little over ten years, have squeezed leopards into farmland. The crop’s thick cover muffles sound, hides movement and creates a perfect hideout just metres from human homes.
The outcome has been deadly. Since January 2023, leopard attacks have killed 35 people in Bijnor district, many inside or near sugarcane fields that begin almost at doorsteps. Officials have marked 80 villages as high-risk zones.
‘Softened’ leopards, worn teeth and new habits
Forest teams say the change is visible on the animals themselves. Some rescued leopards have canines so worn that they cannot grip prey. One 10-year-old male, accused of killing four people, weighed 85 kg, far above the usual wild weight, after years of living inside cane fields and feeding on livestock and, in some tragic cases, children.”Once they learn the ease of this habitat, they choose it,” said retired Bijnor DFO Saleel Shukla. “When released into forests, many return to the fields.”
Shukla described the new look of these animals, bellies round, shoulders heavy, claws rubbed smooth, their stealth and urgency fading after years inside rescue centres or cane belts. When hunger strikes, their first instinct is to head for the nearest village.
Villages on alert, anger on the rise
With fields offering perfect cover, parents now escort children to school and farmers pause at field edges before entering. In October, frustrated farmers tethered cattle outside the divisional forest office in Bijnor and demanded a new rescue centre like Gujarat’s.
“Tiger activity has increased in all Najibabad ranges, pushing leopards into villages,” said Digamber Singh, a farmer leader. “We cannot face this alone.”
Zoos are full, relocation offers no solution
Efforts to shift these leopards to other states have gone nowhere. No state has agreed to take them, and zoos in Dehradun, Bareilly and Lucknow have already run out of space for additional big cats.
Officials across both states now admit that capture-and-release, a long-trusted practice, is collapsing. The leopards walk back.
“We need a leopard safari or a permanent rescue centre in western Uttar Pradesh or Bundelkhand,” said former Bijnor divisional forest officer M Semmaran, now a conservator. “This cannot go on. Zoos were never meant to solve a crisis of this scale.”
(Inputs from TOI)