Leopards are the most adaptable large cat, surviving in diverse habitats including urban fringes. But proximity to humans creates serious welfare risks from trapping, poisoning, and retaliatory killing.
Leopard welfare harms span a wide spectrum of human-caused injuries. Snare entanglement causes deep tissue damage, often resulting in limb amputation during veterinary intervention; even successfully treated animals face significant rehabilitation stress. Retaliatory poisoning — with compounds like carbofuran — causes a prolonged, painful death. Urban leopards navigating city environments face road mortality, dog attacks, and falling into open wells. Human-leopard conflict in places like Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park has been dramatically reduced through improved livestock enclosures, community education, and rapid response teams — demonstrating that coexistence is achievable when communities have support and incentives to tolerate predators.