A video shared by IFS officer Parveen Kaswan has captured a leopard rummaging through piles of garbage and eating trash near Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s hill station.
“This isn’t the wild... the leopard shouldn’t have to search for food in our waste,” “Let’s be better, protect forests, manage waste, and give the wild its home back,” “Stop dumping, start caring,” and “Dispose responsibly. Respect the wild”, reads the clip.
Kaswan, while sharing the video on X, credited the person who filmed it, writing, “What a sad visual. Shri Shivansh Sah recorded this leopard near Mount Abu. See how our trash is reaching the wild.”
The clip, uploaded earlier today, has already drawn more than 34,000 views, with reactions pouring in.
Many X users expressed anger and shame over what the visuals reveal about India’s civic and environmental neglect.
One user commented, “Exploring or grabbing food from waste can create major health issues. It’s too dangerous. The same conditions exist for sloths in the Mount Abu forest area.”’
While the video highlights the growing conflict between humans and wildlife, data shows that leopards in India are not disappearing, at least in numbers.
According to the Status of Leopards, Co-predators and Megaherbivores-2018 report, the country’s official leopard count rose by 63 per cent, from 7,910 in 2014 to 12,852 in 2018. The report also recorded an annual growth rate of 15 per cent in 2019 from parts of Kanha Tiger Reserve, based on a six-year study.
But the growth in numbers does not mean the species is thriving in healthy habitats.
The same report outlined the paradox. “Leopards are extremely versatile and occur in almost every kind of habitat, from the rainforests of the tropics to deserts and temperate regions.”
It further noted that leopards often share space with other predators like tigers and dholes, a condition known as being sympatric, but have increasingly adapted to agro-pastoral landscapes, plantations, and even the fringes of urban areas.
“In comparison to other large carnivores, leopards are quite adaptable with respect to their habitat needs and food requirements, being found near human habitation (both rural and urban),” the report says.
But experts say this adaptability comes with serious consequences.
As humans continue to invade forest spaces, animals like leopards are forced to scavenge near human settlements, leading to a collapse in the natural food chain.
In an earlier interview with The Telegraph Online, Sunil Limaye Maharashtra's retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife, West), explained: “Animals are just asking for their own space and there is a fight for space.”
For years, Limaye’s team urged villagers near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park to maintain cleanliness to reduce prey species like feral pigs and rodents that attract leopards. “They’re opportunistic animals,” Limaye said. “They go for what’s easy — dogs, pigs, even rodents. Human attacks are rare and usually accidental.”
As he pointed out, the more humans dump food waste in and around forested areas, the more prey species gather, and the more leopards follow. Over time, this cycle alters their hunting habits and diet, putting their health and ecological balance at risk.
The leopard in the video might have been looking for a meal, but the scene it represents is one of a species losing its place, and a country struggling to manage its waste.