No wolf litter this season as leopards occupy Karnataka's Bankapur sanctuary

Hubballi: Koppal’s Bankapur wolf sanctuary, which had emerged as one of the last safe resorts for the carnivores, has not reported sightings of the animal this breeding season. Forest officials fear the arrival of leopards, due to change in habitat at the sanctuary, could have prevented wolves from littering at their regular den.

Sources in the department informed DH that Bankapur earlier used to be a transit for leopards during summer. However, since 2021-22, the area has been attracting leopards after the department started planting varieties of plants, making it a home for at least three to four adult leopards.

With the department barring locals and shepherds from using the sanctuary for grazing or other activities that would have preserved the grassland, experts fear wolves might have moved their base.

The 332 ha grassland and rocky area near Bankapur village in Gangavathi taluk was declared Karnataka’s first wolf sanctuary in 2021. Experts who have worked in this habitat say the presence of a natural den on one of the hillocks within the sanctuary had become a “maternity ward” for wolves over the last 15–17 years.

During the last two breeding seasons, the den had witnessed a female wolf littering eight pups each year.

However, this year, field staff and officials have not recorded the presence of a single wolf pack in the sanctuary. As monogamous animals, wolves breed once annually between mid-October and the end of December.

They use dens for six to seven months until the pups become strong enough to wander the vast grasslands. Wolves are long-ranging animals and use the natural den and sanctuary area only during the breeding season.

“Our staff haven’t sighted a single wolf pack within the sanctuary this breeding season. There have been stray reports of wolf packs outside the sanctuary,” said Gangavathi RFO Chaitra M. One of the main reasons for wolves not utilising their regular den, according to her, is the presence of leopards. While forest officials do not know the number of leopards in the sanctuary, guards and watchers have sighted at least two leopards near the den and expect at least 3-4 adult leopards to be prowling within the sanctuary.

“Last year, male and female wolves had chased a sub-adult leopard and protected their den. But this year, there are at least two adult leopards that have occupied the den, so I presume the wolves haven’t risked littering at their usual place,” said a source in the department.

An adult leopard has the potential to hunt wolves, and experts have recorded incidents where wolves abandon their natural habitat once leopards mark those areas as their territory. Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Ranebennur Blackbuck Sanctuary and Gudekote Bear Sanctuary are some examples of leopards replacing wolves as top predators.

Hosapete-based wildlife expert Samad Kottur said wolves prefer slightly human-disturbed areas. “The strict protection of dry scrub-forest and semi grassland habitat leads to regeneration of the forest, turning it into a dense forest. When forest regenerates into dense forest, wolves make way to leopards.”

He said each habitat requires a specific scientific study and the department cannot use a similar yardstick of conservation by planting trees in every habitat. “The department should have conducted a long-term study on the habitat, radio-tagged wolves, understood the species’ use of the landscape and then taken conservation measures,” he said.

Deccan Conservation Foundation founder-president Indrajeet Ghorpade says mismanagement of the forest department has led to wolves moving out of the only dedicated sanctuary for them. “The wolves might have deserted their traditional den and moved to the periphery of the forest, where they are more vulnerable,” he says.