Leopards living at the edges of expanding cities face lethal conflict, persecution, and road mortality that threaten both individual welfare and population survival across Africa and Asia.
Urban-edge leopards navigate a landscape of constant threat. The stress of living in proximity to humans, traffic, and domestic animals — while avoiding lethal conflict — imposes chronic psychological burden measurable in activity patterns and habitat avoidance behavior. Leopards captured for perceived public safety are often held in inadequate facilities before disposition decisions are made, imposing additional welfare costs. The rarity of genuine attacks when compared to the frequency of retaliatory killing suggests that most conflict-driven deaths represent preventable welfare losses from fear rather than genuine public safety necessity.