Why in news:

• Recently, the Rajasthan government has announced its decision to develop a leopard habitat in Galta region.
• This is a leap forward in leopard conservation and the forest department has started an exercise to develop a leopard habitat in Galta region, which is located adjoining Jhalana leopard reserve.
  
   

Key Points:

• The department is also mulling a proposal to start a safari for tourists, once the area is developed.
• There are around 15 leopards inhabiting the Galta and Amagarh forest block.
• One of the major constraints earlier was that there were no routes to monitor the wild cats. To meet this issue, recently, two routes have been developed in the 16 sq km area.
• The area in now being contemplated to be opened for tourism after six months.

A breather:

• The move will come as a breather for Jhalana forest which is bursting at the seams.
• The Jhalana forest spreads over just 20 sq km on the Southeast of Jaipur.
• It houses a healthy population of 44 leopards that can be spotted by tourists from a mere 10-20 feet. The extension of Jhalana will be an added attraction for tourists and new routes will be explored.
• There are 44 leopards in the park including 31 adults and 13 cubs.
• Apart from leopards, the forest has various attractions such as 132 species of avifauna, 220 species of flora, 20 species of reptiles, to name a few.
• In a bid to boost leopard conservation in the state, the forest department has also installed camera traps in Jhalana and Amagarh forest reserves to assess their population.
• Taking a cue from Project Tiger launched by the Centre in 1973, the state government had launched the project to conserve leopards, which are plenty in number.
• The state government, in pursuance of the objective had allocated Rs 7 crore for Project Leopard in the 2017-18 budget.
• With this, Rajasthan became the first state in India to launch a project to conserve leopards by improving their prey base, mitigating contact with humans and controlling poaching.
• The conservation efforts undertaken by the state government in this regard have shown positive results as they have increased the population of leopards.
• Now, in order to adjust the increased population, the adjoining areas are being developed for leopard habitat.
• At present, one of the major impediments is that the area lacks prey base and therefore, efforts will have to be made in this direction.
• If everything falls as per plans, the Galta temple end of the forest will serve as the gateway of the tourist course.