city anchor: Marathi film to chronicle leopard’s amazing journey
It's the story of a remarkable journey charted by a leopard,fondly remembered as Ajoba,or grandfather,that could inspire even the most dispirited of souls.
It’s the story of a remarkable journey charted by a leopard,fondly remembered as Ajoba,or grandfather,that could inspire even the most dispirited of souls. Ajoba’s tale not only stands out as that of a feline caught in the battle between dwindling habitat and increasing urban sprawl,but also its inherent tragedy raises pertinent questions on human-animal conflict. Now,Ajoba’s story is the subject of a Marathi film that will chronicle,pug-by-pug,its 120-km journey from Malshej Ghat to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mumbai.
In April 2009,the news of a leopard’s miraculous rescue by villagers and forest officials of Parner in Ahmednagar hit the headlines. It had accidentally fallen into a well while chasing a dog and was stuck there for two days.
Ajoba became the first leopard in the country to be fitted with a radio collar with an advanced GPS/GSM transmitter system that could track its movement up to a long distance at 152 Mega Hertz (MHz). The leopard was released in the Malshej Ghat after being fitted with the collar. Ajoba then travelled from Malshej Ghat to SGNP in 29 days. Pune’s Sujay Sunil Dahake,director of the acclaimed Shala ,is now going to recreate this journey in the Marathi film,Ajoba.
“We collared him around midnight. Because of the hot weather and the chaos created by the people,the leopard was tired and allowed us to complete the collaring procedure without much resistance. That is why we named him Ajoba,” says Vidya Athreya,wildlife biologist,Wildlife Conservation Society,Bengaluru.
The collar on Ajoba’s neck was fitted with a chip that transmitted its location around eight times a day. The data was then transferred to a Norwegian satellite,which passed it on to its terrestrial server. “It was part of the project sponsored by the Government of Norway. The project was aimed at tracking,monitoring and studying the leopard’s behaviour in the wild,” said Dahake. He added that part of the film will be fictionalised keeping in mind mainstream interests.
Being an avid wildlife enthusiast,Dahake said he wanted to make an environment-based film for a while. The increasing incidents of man-animal conflict,which resulted in the killing of leopards,inspired him to take up the subject. “It’s not the leopard that has encroached on our territory,it’s the other way round,” said Dahake.
Ajoba will be a commercial film,shot in documentary format and feature established cast and crew. “We will be shooting on the actual locations the leopard visited. The film goes on the floor this monsoon and will be released by the end of the year,” said Dahake.
In Ajoba’s case,the battery of the radio collar was damaged after 633 readings and it could not be monitored further. In December 2011,an injured leopard was found injured on the highway on the outskirts of Mumbai. It had been hit by a speeding vehicle. “An animal enthusiast,who was passing by,spotted the injured leopard and rushed him to SGNP. However,the big cat couldn’t make it,” said Dahake. During post-mortem,a chip was found that matched Ajoba’s collar number,he added.
victims of human-animal conflict
April 2012 (Dehradun):A leopard that entered a village and injured four persons was beaten to death. Though the villagers had informed the forest department,the officials took around six hours to reach the site.
January 2012 (Jalpaiguri):A female leopard was thrashed by villagers. Though the leopard died,her cub was rescued.
March 2011 (Dhamdhar)After a leopard attacked three people from the village,it was captured by the forest officials and put in a cage. Before the officials could transport it,the mob beat the leopard up and burnt him alive.
Share
