- A recent analysis of 164 leopard deaths recorded between 2008 and 2024 shows that nearly 40% of deaths occurred in the central Nuwara Eliya district, which represents only 4.4% of the species’ estimated range in Sri Lanka.
- Wire snares accounted for more than 60% of known leopard deaths, with most incidents occurring in plantation landscapes in the Central Highlands.
- A separate study found that leopards living in Sri Lanka’s tea country rely primarily on wild prey rather than livestock, indicating these human-modified landscapes remain important habitat for the leopards.
- As Sri Lanka joins the International Big Cat Alliance, scientists say conservation efforts must extend beyond national parks and address growing threats in plantation landscapes where many leopards now live and die.
COLOMBO — The mist-covered tea estates, forest patches and mountain valleys of Sri Lanka’s hill country support some of the country’s most important leopard populations outside protected areas. Yet the same landscapes have emerged as the deadliest places for the threatened big cats of Sri Lanka.
A new study analyzing 17 years of leopard mortality records has found that nearly 40% of recorded leopard deaths occurred within a single district of Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, the tea-growing Nuwara Eliya, which accounts for only 4.4% of the species’ estimated range.
The study, published in Wildlife Letters, documented 164 human-caused leopard deaths between 2008 and 2024. Most of the victims were adult males, with adults accounting for 87.3% of deaths, out of which 68.4% males made up 68.4% of that adult population.
With fewer than 1,000 mature leopards believed to remain in Sri Lanka, deaths of adult leopards are raising concerns for the species’ long-term survival, as deaths of breeding-age individuals, even modest increases in adult mortality, can have significant impacts, said Sanjaya Weerakkody, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. The majority of recorded deaths were of males, also problematic as the males maintain large territories overlapping with multiple females, which could lead to destabilize local populations, Weerakkody told Mongabay.
The research team created an islandwide database of reported human‐caused leopard deaths from 2008 to 2024 using a multi‐source approach, combining primary field‐based investigations with secondary data sources. The primary informants included Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) staff, veterinary officers, police, estate workers and local residents, while secondary sources included DWC and government veterinary unit records, police and court files, systematic searches of print and electronic media, social media and published research reporting leopard mortalities, Weerakkody added.
The initial data collection was carried out by Leopocon Sri Lanka, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) and its habitats. “Many of the areas inhabited by leopards are remote and difficult to access, but we visited these locations to gather the data used in the study,” said Sethil Muhandiram, founder of Leopocon Sri Lanka.
Muhandiram noted that the data set includes only leopard deaths that were reported to the organization. “There are likely many more deaths that went unreported, meaning the actual number of leopard mortalities is probably higher than what our data show,” he said.
A long-running snaring crisis
Among cases where the cause of death could be determined, wire snares were responsible for 62.3% of mortalities, making them by far the largest threat to the survival of the endemic Sri Lankan leopard.
The new mortality analysis reinforces concerns raised by earlier studies conducted by conservation scientists Andrew Kittle and Anjali Watson from the Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust. Their review analyzed the deaths of 145 leopards between 2001 and 2020 and identified wire snares as the single greatest threat to the species. As of this study, more than 70% of deaths recorded were linked to snaring.
The snares are typically set along trails used by game animals such as wild boar, porcupines and deer moving through plantations and forest edges, either for poaching or to prevent crop damage by so-called pest species. However, leopards often use the same paths while following prey and become unintended victims, said Ranjan Marasinghe, DWC director-general. “Snares are illegal, and we conduct regular raids to remove them and act on information we receive about their use,” Marasinghe told Mongabay.
“However, while snaring remains the leading documented threat to leopards in Sri Lanka’s highlands, it is important to acknowledge that our understanding of leopard mortality in the lowland dry zone remains incomplete, as there is evidence to suggest that a greater number of leopard killings occur in these areas but go unreported,” conservation scientist Andrew Kittle told Mongabay. As such, conservation efforts and discussions should not focus solely on snaring.
“The updated study, which includes records up to 2024, confirms the same worrying pattern identified in our earlier analysis covering 2000-20, leopard deaths are increasing over time. The annual mortality rate remains consistent between the two studies, rising from 8.5 deaths per year in the earlier data set to 9.6 deaths per year in the updated assessment,” he said.
Thriving outside protected areas
For decades, public attention on leopards has focused on famous national parks such as Yala, Wilpattu and Kumana. However, recent studies increasingly show that many leopards live beyond protected area boundaries, especially in the hill country, navigating landscapes dominated by tea plantations, villages and fragmented forests.
Another recent study examining leopard diet in the Upper Kelani River Basin in the Nuwara Eliya district itself found that leopards living in tea-country landscapes continue to rely overwhelmingly on wild prey. Analyzing more than 100 leopard scat samples, researchers identified at least 17 prey species. More than 85% of the leopard’s diet consisted of wild animals, including barking deer, black-naped hare (Lepus nigricollis), porcupines and primates.
Domestic animals contributed less than 15% of the diet. The findings challenge a widespread perception among estate communities that leopards primarily depend on livestock or, particularly, domestic dogs.
The findings also suggest that future leopard conservation efforts cannot focus solely on protected areas as many recorded deaths occur in landscapes where people and leopards coexist. Effective leopard conservation depends on maintaining sufficient habitat, landscape connectivity and healthy prey populations. In Sri Lanka, where people and wildlife share much of the same space, coexistence must be at the heart of conservation planning, Kittle added.
Development decisions should be guided by ecological knowledge to avoid further fragmentation of habitats. At the same time, public awareness is essential to reduce conflict, encourage responsible behavior around wildlife and foster appreciation of the leopard’s ecological and economic value. Protecting leopards ultimately means protecting the landscapes that sustain both wildlife and people, Kittle told Mongabay.
A global commitment
The publication of the mortality study comes as Sri Lanka joins the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), an intergovernmental initiative launched by India to promote cooperation in the conservation of the world’s seven big cat species: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma.
The alliance aims to strengthen international collaboration on research, wildlife crime prevention, habitat conservation and capacity building among member nations. For Sri Lanka, whose only big cat is the endemic leopard, membership offers opportunities to exchange knowledge and strengthen conservation efforts, Marasinghe added.
The initiative was launched in 2023 and actively promoted among big cat range nations. During his visit to Sri Lanka, the Indian Vice President Chandrapuram Ponnusami Radhakrishnan welcomed Sri Lanka’s decision to join the alliance. The IBCA now has 26 member countries and five observer nations, drawn from the world’s 95 big cat range countries.
However, its first summit, scheduled for early June 2026 in New Delhi, was postponed amid concerns over a regional Ebola outbreak, which was expected to limit the participation of several African delegations.
Banner Image: This leopard was entrapped in a wire snare set deep inside a tea plantation in Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, showing how widespread the problem is. Image courtesy of the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
References:
Weerakkody, S., Gunasekara, V., Muhandiram, S., Harapan, T. S., Gunasekara, K. R., Jayasena, B., … Kudavidanage, E. P. (2026). Human‐caused Leopard deaths in Sri Lanka are concentrated in central Highlands’ estate mosaics: Evidence from 17 years of mortality records. Wildlife Letters. doi:10.1002/wll2.70040
Kittle, A. M., Watson, A. C., & Prasad, T. (2021). Spatio-Temporal Insights into Human-Induced Leopard Mortality in Sri Lanka from 2001 – 2020. WILDLANKA.
Kumara, P. H., Kittle, A. M., Watson, A. C., Perera, S. J., Sanjeewani, N., & Fernando, S. P. (2026). Leopards exhibit nuanced predation patterns but rely on wild prey in a human‐dominated agricultural landscape in the central Highlands of Sri Lanka. Ecology and Evolution, 16(2). doi:10.1002/ece3.73027
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