Sheetal Vaibhav Yende has longed for safety in her own home.

Living in the region of Junnar, India, which is known for having a high density of leopards, she was aware of the risks of wildlife attacks. Just a few months before her personal experience with the giant feline in her home, a neighbor had lost four pregnant goats to a leopard attack.

For a human-dominated landscape, Junnar has a high degree of leopard density.

“Six to seven leopards can be spotted in 100 square kilometers in Junnar, which is higher than many protected areas in India,” said Kumar Ankit, a researcher with the Wildlife Institute of India who has been studying the behavior of big cats in Junnar since 2019.

Why do the big cats keep approaching neighborhoods? Will sterilization to curb these attacks work, or is it just another hare-brained scheme?

This is the first story in our two-part series “No Place To Call Home” on human-wildlife conflicts in India due to a changing climate. The Xylom is the first foreign newsroom to scrutinize the Indian plans to sterilize leopards. Support science and society journalism you can't find anywhere else; all donations are matched three times up to $1,000 until the end of the year!