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Clouded leopard
India has begun treating the clouded leopard as a species with a plan of its own. The first national action plan came in July 2026, and Meghalaya followed in August with Mission Clouded Leopard for its State animal. The cat is Vulnerable, lives in the forests of the Himalaya and Northeast India, and has now joined the Species Recovery Programme, which funds work on one threatened species at a time.
The clouded leopard
- The mainland clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is a forest cat and the State animal of Meghalaya.
- It is Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
- It is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Act's strictest protection.
- It lives in Himalayan and Northeast Indian forests.
- The pressure on it is the break up of that forest into separated patches.
- India's first Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan, of July 2026, applies to it, along with the Species Recovery Programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme.
What has happened
4 Aug 2026
Meghalaya launched Mission Clouded Leopard for its State animal, weeks after the first national plan for the species.
- The national plan names 14 priority landscapes in Northeast India and asks for the corridors between them to be restored.
PIB, 4 Aug 2026: First Conservation Action Plan for the clouded leopard (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 6 Aug 2026: Meghalaya launches Mission Clouded Leopard (opens in a new tab)