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Journalism of Courage
In the third death of a child amidst escalating human leopard conflict in Junnar forest division in Pune district, an eight-year-old boy from a farm labourer family was killed in a leopard attack in Mangrul Pargaon village in Junnar taluka on Monday morning. The Forest Department said that a permission has been sought to eliminate the leopard involved in the attack.
The Junnar Forest Division has seen a sharp rise in human–leopard conflict in recent weeks, with three people — including two children — getting killed between October 12 and November 1 and several more injured in leopard attacks. “An eight year old boy Rohit Babu Kapare was killed by a leopard in Mangrul Pargaon village of Junnar taluka on Monday morning around 11.30 am. Multiple teams from the Forest Department were deployed at the location and in the surrounding areas. Camera traps and trap cages were deployed in the area .” said a Forest Department officer from Junnar Division.
In the two villages Pimparkhed and Jambut of Shirur taluka three tragic deaths occurred due to leopard attacks between October 12 and November 1. Shivanya Bombe (5) on October 12, Bhagubai Jadhav (70) on October 22 and Rohan Bombe (13) on November 1 lost their lives. These incidents triggered massive public outrage.
In protest against the increasing leopard attacks in Junnar, Shirur, Ambegaon, and Khed talukas, villagers staged agitations blocking the Belhe–Jejuri Road on October 12 and 22 and the Pune Nashik Highway at Manchar on November 3. On November 2, following the death of 13-year-old Rohan, an angry mob set fire to a Forest Department patrol vehicle and the local base camp building, resulting in significant damages. The Mangrul Pargaon village in Junnar where the Monday morning attack took place is around six kilometers away from Pimparkhed village in Shirur which witnessed deaths of two children in October-November.
To capture or eliminate the man-eating leopard from the Pimparkhed area, Pune Forest Conservator Ashish Thakre obtained immediate permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to capture or shoot dead the maneater leopard after the November 1 incident. On November 5, the suspected maneater leopard was shot dead.
In a separate incident in Ahilyanagar district’s Sangamner taluka, a four-year-old boy was killed in a leopard attack on Saturday evening.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, after reviewing the state’s escalating human–leopard conflict in a meeting with top officials on November 18 directed that a proposal to declare the crisis a state disaster be placed before the Cabinet. He has also sought a proposal to shift the leopard from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act. The CM has also directed setting up two more rescue centres for leopards in Pune district.
Last year, as many as eight human deaths were reported and this year five more have been reported in incidents of human leopard conflict. After the back to back incidents last year, the forest department had issued a Red Alert for 13 villages in a five square kilometer area in Junnar taluka. People in these villages were asked not to step out before 9 am and after 5 pm. In June this year, Pune District Collector had notified over 230 villages from four talukas of Pune district — Junnar, Ambegaon, Shirur and Khed — as prone to disaster due to repeated incidents of human leopard conflicts in which multiple deaths and several serious injuries were reported.
