Photographs of a leopard snapped by camera traps in forests in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts have raised hopes among conservationists working to save the critically endangered species. Bangladesh’s Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA) issued pictures of the leopard emerging from lush green bush, celebrating the “evidence that these elusive big cats still persist” in the forested hills where Bangladesh borders India and Myanmar. “We have to ensure the protection of the species so that it doesn’t become extinct,” CCA research officer Sourav Chakma said yesterday. The predator was once widely seen in forested areas. Habitat loss, lack of prey and poaching are key contributors to the loss of leopards, experts say.
