Conservationists have warned that the country’s already critically endangered common leopard population is facing a range of threats, including increasing encounters with humans, depleting forest cover and illegal hunting.

Despite some signs of rising numbers, particularly in designated protected areas, there is a serious risk that the animal could be completely wiped out from Pakistan, according to Rab Nawaz, a senior official at WWF-Pakistan.

There are only a handful of protected areas for leopards in Pakistan such as Islamabad’s Margalla Hills National Park, Ayubia National Park in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Machiara National Park in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Nawaz said there has not been a comprehensive study to determine the exact figure, but estimates indicate the common leopard population in Pakistan is currently in the hundreds.

KP is believed to have the highest number, followed by AJP and Punjab.

Sharing a similar view, Rina Saeed, a wildlife expert and head of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), decried the lack of specific data about the leopard population.

“We simply don’t know if the number of leopards has increased or decreased,” she told Anadolu.

A 2021 camera trap study the IWMB conducted in the Margalla Hills National Park found at least eight leopards in the protected area.

Estimates suggest there are probably at least a dozen inside the park, she said.

“Leopards in Margalla Hills National Park are better protected than other areas of Pakistan because we have very strict patrolling and we have communicated to the villagers that these leopards are protected under law, so harming them is a criminal offence,” she said.

The IWMB has also converted the Islamabad Zoo — once notorious for its maltreatment of animals — into a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre.

Among some 270 rescued animals at the centre are three leopards, with one of them set to be returned to the wild soon.