Curtailing Human-Leopard Conflict Using Wildlife Forensics: A Case Study from Himachal Pradesh, India

Pandey, Puneet; Sharma, Vipin

doi:10.4172/2157-7145.1000331

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Genetic tagging of Amur leopard can help cooperate Russia and China since some border population individuals are now found in both sides [ 58 ]. It would also be useful to identify individuals that cause conflicts with humans or victims by poaching [ 59 , 60 ]. Therefore, we suggest genetic monitoring using above 12 markers which is practical and cost effective since it only requires three multiplex PCR and it has advantage in species-specific character [ 55 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient and cost-effective non-invasive population monitoring as a method to assess the genetic diversity of the last remaining population of Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in the Russia Far East

et al. 2022

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Small populations of the endangered species are more vulnerable to extinction and hence require periodic genetic monitoring to establish and revisit the conservation strategies. The Amur leopard is critically endangered with about 100 individuals in the wild. In this study, we developed a simple and cost-effective noninvasive genetic monitoring protocol for Amur leopards. Also, we investigated the impact of fecal sample’s age, storage, and collection season on microsatellite genotyping success and data quality. We identified 89 leopard scats out of the 342 fecal samples collected from Land of the Leopard between 2014–2019. Microsatellite genotyping using 12 markers optimized in 3 multiplex PCR reactions reveals presence of at least 24 leopard individuals (18 males and 6 females). There was a significant difference in the success rate of genotyping depending on the time from feces deposition to collection (p = 0.014, Fisher’s exact test), with better genotyping success for samples having <2 weeks of environmental exposure. Amur leopard genetic diversity was found low (Ho− 0.33, HE− 0.35, and NA− 2.57) with no visible population substructure and recent bottleneck signature. Although a historical bottleneck footprint was observed. Mitochondrial DNA diversity was also found low with two haplotypes differing by a point mutation reported in 1,769 bp of investigated sequence covering parts of cytochrome b gene (846 bp), NADH-5 gene (611 bp) and control region (312 bp). We recommend periodic genetic monitoring of wild Amur leopards following the proposed methodology to achieve cost effectiveness and efficiency.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient and cost-effective non-invasive population monitoring as a method to assess the genetic diversity of the last remaining population of Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in the Russia Far East

et al. 2022

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“…In order to identify and resolve cases of human-wildlife conflict elsewhere, the convicting predator species or its individual causing the livestock depredation and/or human casualties have been identified successfully using DNA-based identification tools (Pandey et al, 2016; Peelle et al, 2019). We investigated a fatal case of human-leopard conflict that occurred in rural hilly district, Arghakhanchi, which lies in mid-western Nepal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of DNA forensic to identify a problem leopard and its implications for human-leopard conflict mitigation

Manandhar¹,

Manandhar²,

Joshi³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Attacks on humans by leopardsPanthera pardusoften escalate human-leopard conflict, influence extreme negative tolerance and encourage retaliatory killings. In the rural hilly region of Arghakhanchi district, mid-western Nepal, a leopard killed a child in November 2018. Government authorities captured a leopard a week later which was immediately killed by the villagers. We collected the predator’s salivary DNA from the victim’s bite wound and compared its DNA fingerprint profile with the killed leopard’s profile to resolve the case using 13 microsatellite markers for leopard individualization. Our genetic analysis confirmed that the leopard persecuted by the villagers was the same leopard that had killed the victim. We urge the government to devise dedicated policy and guidelines for human-leopard conflict management and mitigation in Nepal, and to incorporate protocols, including leopard individualization microsatellite panel we have standardized, that mandate correct identification of captured leopard before any interventions such as persecutions and translocations are attempted. We also recommend steering community programs to proactively safeguard children, people and livestock to avoid conflicts and to influence positive tolerance towards leopards. This will benefit leopard conservation and save human lives and livelihoods leading to a healthy coexistence.

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“…Incremental adoption of genetic tools and techniques for wildlife conservation and management have been observed globally in the past 25 years mainly due to the development of the robust protocols for DNA extraction and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) 13 – 16 . DNA tools are now increasingly employed for establishing species-level identity 17 , 18 , resolving taxonomic ambiguities 6 , 19 , 20 , wildlife conflict mitigation 21 , 22 , and more recently, establishing the source of origin 23 – 25 . Microsatellites or short tandem repeats (STR) are neutral, co-dominantly inherited, widely distributed, hypervariable, short repetitive nuclear DNA units that have been regarded as the best candidate to develop a genetic signature of the individual (DNA fingerprint), population, and subspecies 16 , 26 – 29 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole genome survey of big cats (Genus: Panthera) identifies novel microsatellites of utility in conservation genetic study

Hyun

Pandey

Kim

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Big cats (Genus: Panthera) are among the most threatened mammal groups of the world, owing to hunting, habitat loss, and illegal transnational trade. Conservation genetic studies and effective curbs on poaching are important for the conservation of these charismatic apex predators. A limited number of microsatellite markers exists for Panthera species and researchers often cross-amplify domestic cat microsatellites to study these species. We conducted data mining of seven Panthera genome sequences to discover microsatellites for conservation genetic studies of four threatened big cat species. A total of 32 polymorphic microsatellite loci were identified in silico and tested with 152 big cats, and were found polymorphic in most of the tested species. We propose a set of 12 novel microsatellite markers for use in conservation genetics and wildlife forensic investigations of big cat species. Cumulatively, these markers have a high discriminatory power of one in a million for unrelated individuals and one in a thousand for siblings. Similar PCR conditions of these markers increase the prospects of achieving efficient multiplex PCR assays. This study is a pioneering attempt to synthesise genome wide microsatellite markers for big cats.

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Curtailing Human-Leopard Conflict Using Wildlife Forensics: A Case Study from Himachal Pradesh, India

Cited by 9 publications

References 13 publications

Efficient and cost-effective non-invasive population monitoring as a method to assess the genetic diversity of the last remaining population of Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in the Russia Far East

Efficient and cost-effective non-invasive population monitoring as a method to assess the genetic diversity of the last remaining population of Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in the Russia Far East

Application of DNA forensic to identify a problem leopard and its implications for human-leopard conflict mitigation

Whole genome survey of big cats (Genus: Panthera) identifies novel microsatellites of utility in conservation genetic study

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