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Journalism of Courage
A leopard was spotted near a five-star hotel at J B Nagar in Andheri (East) on Sunday morning, prompting the state forest department to install 10 automatic cameras and three trap cages in the area to capture the animal.
The leopard, as it climbed the wall of an abandoned warehouse, was spotted by the watchman. Pug marks were also seen on the boundary wall, said forest officials.
Rescue teams from Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and the state forest department scanned the area that is lined with abandoned warehouses, small industrial units and a few residential buildings.
Officials suspect the animal had been staying in the abandoned warehouse for months. The forest department went on to instal trap cages inside the warehouse and restricted entry into its premises. Ten cameras were also installed to confirm the sightings and record the movement of the animal.
“Once sighted, the images of this animal will be compared with camera trappings of leopards documented earlier. If there is a match, the last known location of the leopard will be known,” said an official.
Several leopard sightings have been recorded in densely populated areas of Andheri (East), including Marol and Sher-e-Punjab. However, J B Nagar is far off from these sites.
“Leopards have been sighted in populated areas of Mumbai and Thane. But in this case, there seems to be no natural connectivity for leopards to stray or walk away from their natural habitat,” said Jitendra Ramgaonkar, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Thane.
As per a recent forest department survey, there are 47 leopards in SGNP and its surrounding areas, including Aarey, Bombay Veterinary College, IIT-Bombay, Godhbunder village and Nagla block.
Last February, after a five-hour-long rescue operation, an adult male leopard was rescued from Thane’s Korum mall. In April 2019, a two-year-old male leopard was rescued from a housing society in Marol. In 2017, a leopard had strayed into the densely populated Sher-e-Punjab Colony in Andheri (East) and entered a play school. It was rescued after a 12-hour long operation. In April this year, two leopard sightings were reported from IIT-Bombay’s Powai campus in a 24-hour span. In May, a leopard was sighted at a residential complex in Powai.
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