UP Forest Department Proposes Leopard Sterilization in Bijnor to Curb Human-Wildlife Conflict
In a significant move to address the escalating human-leopard conflict in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district, the state forest department has submitted a comprehensive proposal to sterilize leopards. The plan, which aims to control the leopard population through a phased sterilization program, comes as a response to the alarming rise in attacks that have resulted in numerous human casualties and injuries over the past decade.
Escalating Conflict and Human Casualties
Bijnor district has witnessed a dramatic surge in man-leopard conflicts between 2015 and 2025, with official records indicating 825 cases of leopard attacks during this period. The situation has become particularly dire in recent years. From 2023 through September 2025 alone, 35 people were killed and 55 sustained injuries in leopard attacks within the district. The year 2023 marked the peak of this tragedy, with 18 human deaths reported—the highest annual toll in the conflict.
The Sterilization Solution: A Five-Year Plan
The forest department's proposal outlines a practical and systematic approach to population control. According to presentation documents reviewed at a recent meeting, the department recommends implementing leopard sterilization in a phased manner over five years. The goal is to sterilize at least 75% of the leopard population in the affected areas, with approximately 15% of leopards targeted annually.
"The most practical solution to the crisis is sterilization," stated the department's official document. "This will control the population, reduce conflict, and maintain a balance between human and wildlife presence in the area." The proposal is currently awaiting approval from the state government, after which the department will seek necessary clearances from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Root Causes: Sugarcane Fields and Easy Prey
The conflict in Bijnor is exacerbated by specific agricultural and environmental factors. The district has cane cultivation on 49% of its cultivated land, creating dense sugarcane fields that provide ideal cover for leopards to breed and rear their cubs. Leopards born and raised in these fields become accustomed to human presence, losing their natural shyness and increasing the likelihood of encounters.
Additionally, the abundance of cattle and livestock in the area offers easy prey for leopards, contributing to population growth and frequent conflicts. This combination of habitat and food availability has created a perfect storm for human-wildlife interactions.
Conservation Success and Its Unintended Consequences
Bijnor's geographical proximity to major protected areas has played a role in the current crisis. The district is close to the Rajaji and Corbett tiger reserves and contains the Amangarh tiger reserve within its boundaries. Effective tiger conservation efforts in these areas have increased tiger populations, inadvertently displacing leopards into non-forest territories where they come into conflict with humans.
The district's two forest divisions—the social forestry division and the forest division Najibabad—have identified 40 villages as extremely sensitive and 80 as sensitive to leopard conflicts, highlighting the widespread nature of the problem.
Previous Measures and Their Limitations
Authorities have attempted various interventions under the direction of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). Between 2023 and 2025, 108 leopards were rescued (36 in 2023, 31 in 2024, and 41 in 2025). These animals were either released back into the wild or transferred to zoos.
However, these measures proved insufficient. "Those released in the wild returned to the sugarcane fields again," noted the department document. "Zoos, on the contrary, are already saturated. This underlined the immediate need for population control."
Additional Protective Measures
Alongside the sterilization proposal, the forest department has recommended constructing elephant-proof trenches and installing chain-link fencing to clearly define forest boundaries. These physical barriers aim to prevent leopards from straying into human settlements while maintaining ecological corridors for wildlife movement.
The comprehensive approach—combining population control through sterilization with habitat management through boundary definition—represents a multi-faceted strategy to address one of Uttar Pradesh's most pressing wildlife conservation challenges.
