Humans have not left even the cats to live peacefully. The big cats are critically endangered in the present. Big cats include the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard and snow leopard. Many people can easily distinguish the difference between the tiger and lion but they have a harder time identifying a leopard if placed beside a jaguar.  A couple of key factors, which help to distinguish the difference between them include the pattern on their fur and the size/shape of their head.

Jaguars tend to have larger rosettes (rose like shaped patches) in the middle while a leopard has plain rosettes with no central spot in the middle.

Leopards are the 4th largest cat in the world. This animal is found in regions of Africa, West Africa, and the Middle East, south and Southeast Asia to Siberia.

 Leopards can survive in the wild because of their camouflaged fur and strength to move heavy carcasses into tress. They can adapt to various habitats such as rainforest and hilly areas.  The key ability, which helps leopards to survive in such harsh habitats is their speed. They can run up to 58 kilometres per hour.

 Unfortunately, leopards are listed as NEAR THREATENED on the IUCN RED LIST. There are only 14000 leopards in south Asia. Main reason for the declination in their population is their habitat loss. People destroy their habitat intentionally and illegally to sell them in the wildlife trade for decorative purpose. People hunt down the animal for its beautiful skin and horns. A single animal can fetch up to 5000 US dollars in the market.
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Leopards are a part of the food chain. Every animal is. Leopards are food for crocodiles. If the big cat disappears from the food web, then crocodiles will lose their food. If all such preys of crocodile become extinct, then eventually even crocodiles become extinct. In this way every animal disappears including us, the humans! If we disturb nature, it affects us very badly. Every animal should be taken care of.                 
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​One of the many ways for a man to be one with the nature is taking pets. Seventeenth-century English author John Donne said, “No man is an island”. Man is a social animal. While a man deals with a fellow man in his daily activity, which in this world always drags him to selfish ends, which in a way I think unnatural thing to happen, a pet animal in his house keeps him near to the nature. All the negative impressions he carries during the day are detached by interacting with his favourite pets at home.  A pet animal because of its innocence and playfulness creates atmosphere where natural happiness is generated. Ultimately happiness is what a man desires in the end.
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But taking a pet is becoming a luxury in the present day modern cities.  While in villages we see natural bonding between animals and man, in cities people are remotely concerned with animals. The middle class and lower class has either no time to take pets or cannot afford to take one. In affluent countries like European and American countries, we see pets in home more common, but in countries like Asia and Africa we cannot expect much.
To this proportion man is losing the bond with the nature. Again economics dictating everything.
 
For those who can afford, pets range from dogs, cats, parrots to turtles, among other animals. Dogs as pet animals beat all, however some think it is more glamorous to have parrots and turtles, even snakes as pets. The type of the interaction dogs produce is wonderful, in my opinion, and they are such innocent animals. The waving of their tail upon seeing their human is enough to be greatly loved.  Teaching a parrot to speak is anybody’s delight. I think cats are most secretive animals always hiding something. They do not commonly show emotions. But due to their tenderness they make good pets.
 
 Indians are very much connected with pets since the ancient time. Many novels of moral stories were written which include animals in the main characters like the “Panchatantra”. Majority of Indians are interested to grow dogs as pets. They feel that dogs give company and listen to humans. Dogs are faithful and are honest. They never betray their master. Many of the Hindu sacred books tell that dogs are the guardians of hell and heaven. In many of the places especially in the northern parts, people worship dogs in a particular festive season.

​Example
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J Forensic Sci. 2003 May; 48(3):617-21. Cadaver dog and handler team capabilities in the recovery of buried human remains in the southeastern United States.Lasseter AE, Jacobi KP, Farley R, Hensel L. Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0210, USA. 

For more information on such cases visit THIS SITE.
 
The increasing awareness among pet owners regarding the usage of branded pet care products and pet nutritional requirements, via the internet, is also supporting the double-digit growth rates.  Every year, hundreds of young married couples without children adopt pets as a means to simulating family life before they have children.The pet population in India has grown from 7 million in 2006 to 10 million in 2011. On an average 600,000 pets are adopted every year. Owing to the general atmosphere of sensitisation towards pets in the country, more Indian consumers have come to humanise their pets, and pet owners do not mind spending on what they perceive as being necessary or beneficial for their pets, be it pet food, treats, toys, medicines, resort stays or air fare. The multinationals such as Mars International India Pvt Ltd and Royal Canin India Pvt Ltd have maintained their leadership positions in pet food in India. These multinationals continue to leverage their strong distribution channels used for other fmcg products.
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 The Indian pet market is now $800-million-plus industry, and is expected to register strong double-digit retail value growth in the coming years. Every year there is a raise in pet care registration of about 24%.

Case study:
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One of my friend Prashasth Sam who is my class mate, is very much fascinated to have dogs as pets. His family includes his father, mother, sister, himself and his beloved dogs named Roar and Terry. Not only is he interested in dogs, his whole family is. Since the time of his grandfather, his family includes dogs. Sam offers his dog full freedom to roam in the house all the time. Every morning he takes them to a walk for about one hour. His dog Terry celebrates its birthday on Dec 30th every year. He gives us party with a cake cut by his dog and himself together. His dog attends a family get-to-gather on its birthday night. He get his dog checked by a veterinary doctor every month.   
 
But then dogs are increasing in uncontrolled number in streets of India. These street dogs are a major distraction for the people who are traveling on the road and becoming a menace. Many of these dogs turn wild and they end up biting and injuring people who are travelling on the road. These wild street dogs bark throughout the night disturbing people. Government should take care of such street dogs. There are many programs initiating to train street dogs to identify threats in market areas but I think it is nowhere close to the reality. Govt. should take care about the diseases they spread. They carry many diseases like Rabies. India has the highest number of human rabies deaths in the world (estimated at 35,000 per annum).  Government should act immediately on this issue before it is too late.   ​

SOURCES:

http://www.iiptf.com/indian_pet_industry.php?page=Fact_and_Figure
http://www.euromonitor.com/pet-care-in-india/report
 http://www.iiptf.com/indian_pet_industry.php?page=Fact_and_Figure

,A study says that at the end of the 17th century, there were around one million Rhinos. During 1970s the number was drastically reduced to only 70,000. At present, there are only 28,000 Rhinos in the whole world, fighting for their survival.

The IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature) identified three species of Rhinos as critically endangered.  To save Rhino, IUNC has declared 22nd September as World Rhino Day. There are many organization which try to protect Rhino from extinction. Kaziranga, Orang and Manas National Parks and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary are established in Assam, India. There were only 3,333 one horned Rhinos in the whole world in 2012. Assam was the state which had around 75% of the whole world one horned Rhino population, which is almost 2500. And good news is that this number is increasing year by year. At present, there are around 2700 Rhinos in Assam. This whole process is taking place under IRV2020 project (India Rhino Vision by year 2020). Organization like Fish and Wildlife conservation in US, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife in South Africa also play a major role in helping Rhino to survive. Indian Govt. has passed a special bill which enables the forest guards to kill the illegal poachers, sending a clear message of how  serious they are about protecting the rhino.
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 If rhinos meet the dodo in extinction, we lose the natural link of evolution between many species. This disturbs the whole food web and create a path for the extinction of many other species. We are all interconnected. If any one species disappears from the food web, it creates a threat to all the other species. This means that every species is important. This is the lesson we must understand!  This is what the rhino can teach us.

The time to stand up is now! We must take action towards protection of these great creatures. Rhinos are very near to the end of the cliff. “But how to begin?” is the question we often face at the beginning. We have to educate people about the good reasons to save Rhinos and should not get their attention on the tempting prize of Rhino horns. In this generation, social media can help to spread good words and bring awareness in people.

If you have some ideas, feel free to email For All The Animals. Write to jasper at foralltheanimals dot com. 

Animals are sometimes killed because of superstitions. For example, a cobra is believed to drink milk and many people pour milk in their habitats and kill the poor creatures.  People belief in witches and pray to them as god. It seems silly that a human prays to another human and considers him as superior of 'god-like', when all are equally made by nature, the only known god. People even pollute precious water bodies like the river Ganges believing in astrology.  

 People in India believe that a distant planet, say mars or Jupiter may change their lives. Some astrologers predict the future in a very common way and get their name printed in all the poor minds. Astrology, developed from mathematics, observation and has became fraudulent. The Indians, even the clever, are afraid of god and worship in all the unscientific ways. In India, astrology is more famous than astronomy. The babas are more respected than scientists.

The government is taking steps to suppress the superstitious beliefs and develop India, but many astrologers are major obstacles for the development of our country and superstitious beliefs also impede our country’s development.  

Here's a link to an article about Dabholkar, a 67-year-old medical doctor-turned-activist who “wanted to expose the people who cheat the poor in the name of gods, who promise false cures for cancer or do black magic to perform so-called miracles.” He said that superstition was a disease causing a lot of harm, especially to the poor and the gullible.  READ FULL ARTICLE