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

Attacks on humans by leopards Panthera pardus often 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 predators salivary DNA from the victims bite wound and compared its DNA fingerprint profile with the killed leopards 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.