Islamabad: Recent leopard sightings in Islamabad are drawing attention to increasing human-wildlife overlap in the Margalla Hills ecosystem, raising concerns about habitat pressure and ecological fragmentation.

According to WWF-Pakistan, a Common Leopard was reported in March on the campus of the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), followed by additional sightings in surrounding areas. The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board responded by deploying trap cages and issuing public advisories. While no injuries were reported, the animal has not yet been traced.

This incident is part of a wider and growing trend, not an isolated event. As Pakistan marks International Leopard Day on May 3, WWF-Pakistan highlights that increased leopard movement near human settlements reflects shrinking habitats, reduced prey availability, and expanding urban and peri-urban development around the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad. This fragmentation is increasing the likelihood of wildlife moving beyond protected boundaries and into nearby human settlements.

Speaking about the recent proposed development activities around the Margalla Hills National Park, Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General of WWF-Pakistan, said, "The Park and its surrounding habitats represent a critical ecological landscape. Development activities in close proximity to the park pose serious and potentially irreversible risks, including habitat fragmentation, disruption of wildlife movement corridors, and degradation of essential ecosystem services."

"Leopards are highly adaptable, but what we are seeing is not adaptation alone, it is displacement," said Muhammad Jamshed Iqbal Chaudhry, Wildlife Practice Lead at WWF-Pakistan. "As natural habitats become fragmented, wildlife is increasingly pushed into human-dominated spaces."

One of the most significant consequences of this overlap is conflict with local communities, particularly livestock predation, which can lead to retaliatory killing of leopards.

To address this, WWF-Pakistan is piloting a livestock insurance scheme in the Galiyat, helping compensate farmers for losses and reducing conflict-driven responses. This model offers a practical solution that protects both wildlife and people and can serve as a model for other high-conflict landscapes across Pakistan where predators like the common leopard continue to come into contact with livestock.

Beyond community-based solutions, WWF-Pakistan is also working on habitat conservation, awareness campaigns, and policy engagement to strengthen long-term coexistence between people and wildlife, while leveraging AI-enabled camera traps and modern technologies for wildlife monitoring. They are implementing GPS collaring to track leopard movements, supporting rapid response and rescue systems, and building the capacity of wildlife rangers across their landscape through training on the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) for improved patrol planning, data collection, and law enforcement.

Without urgent and coordinated action, experts warn that such encounters may become more frequent across the Margalla landscape, extending further into urban edges.