In 2016, several leopards fell victim to snares in the vicinity. This drew attention to the fact that Leopards were present outside the Peak Wilderness protected area, along the ridge directly behind Ceylon Tea Trails. Resplendent Ceylon invited WWCT, a Leopard-focused research and conservation organisation headed by Anjali Watson and Andrew Kittle and provided facilities to set up a research station at Tea Trails in the Dunkeld tea estate.
WWCT began their work into leopard dynamics on the ridge. The findings were astounding as they discovered, with extensive camera trap footage, that there was a significant population of leopards along the ridge between the two reservoirs, outside the Sanctuary. The ridge, which we dubbed the Peak Ridge Forest Corridor, connects sections of the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary.
