Maharashtra Forest Minister Ganesh Naik says man-eater leopard should be shot at sight; 200 cages to be installed

“To capture leopards in these areas, 200 cages will be installed with urgency. We will procure 1,000 additional cages to trap the leopards. After capturing the leopards, they will be relocated in deep forests. Adopting artificial intelligence and satellite images, a mechanism will be developed to issue alerts to keep people informed about leopard movements,” he added.

The shrinking of forest land and a rise in the population of leopards in the region, which is a prosperous sugar belt with surplus water and vegetation, are cited as the reasons for the increase in leopard attacks.

The Government has sought from the Centre permission to capture and relocate leopards, to implement a large-scale sterilisation programme to control the animal’s population, and, in extreme cases, to kill leopards that have become man-eaters. Under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, killing of wild animals is prohibited.

After a leopard killed a 13-year-old boy, an angry mob set fire to a forest department patrol vehicle and a base camp building on November 2. This was among the three leopard-attack deaths reported over the past three weeks in Pimparkhed and Jambut villages of Shirur taluka. The other two victims were a five-year-old child and a 70-year-old man.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has sought the Centre’s intervention for granting permission to kill the leopard, as elected MLA, MPs, and ministers representing Pune and Ahmednagar districts have urged him to find quick solutions to tackle the menace. They apprised him of how people in these two districts were spending sleepless nights. In some cases, villagers have equipped themselves with sharp armour worn around their necks and bodies to protect themselves from leopard attacks.

At a cabinet meeting earlier, Fadnavis said that leopard attacks needed to be tackled cautiously as the Government has to  safeguard human lives and protect animals.

“We also have to take strong measures to effectively tackle the leopards who have become man-eaters. As loss of human lives has led to fear in some districts of state. Even minister Dilip Walse-Patil held discussions with me on the issue of human-animal conflict,” the chief minister said.

“I have raised the issue with the Centre and the Union minister for forest and apprised him of the situation arising out of growing leopard attacks in the districts of Pune and Ahmednagar. In cases where a leopard becomes a man-eater we urge the Centre to give us permission to capture and put it down if necessary,” he added.

As per government data, there are 1,300-1,500 leopards in Pune district. With the forest area shrinking and the leopard population rising, human-wildlife conflict has proved a challenge for the administration.

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