184 leopards rescued in Maharashtra’s Junnar division in 5 years, mostly from open wells

Mahendra Dhore, Manager, Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre, Wildlife SOS, a non-profit organisation collaborating with the forest department for the crucial conservation project, said several awareness campaigns have been conducted in high-risk areas, educating local people, including schoolchildren, in the past two years.

“With the dual approach of covering open wells and conducting awareness sessions on a mass scale, there has been a drop in the number of incidents of leopards falling inside open wells,” he added.

Working on its Open Wells Conservation Project, Wildlife SOS recently covered five open wells in Junnar to prevent leopards and other wild animals from falling into them and fatally injuring themselves. As part of the project, the team conducted a field study, speaking with well owners to identify locations where falls frequently occur.

The observations revealed that leopards fall into wells while hunting. Most of the leopards were found to have fallen while chasing domestic animals such as dogs, cats, goats and cows. In these areas, domestic animals are left outside, and leopards come near the houses for hunting in the evening. In the process of chasing prey, some leopards end up falling into the well.

“In various schools, we educate students about wild animals through outreach programmes and advise the residents to not let their pets roam outside at night but to keep them in enclosed spaces,” Dhore said.

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO, Wildlife SOS, said the most important information gathered while working on this project was that if farmers keep their domestic animals enclosed at night, a huge number of incidents of leopards falling into wells can be reduced.

An official statement said the forest department and Wildlife SOS, under the guidance of the Junnar forest division, covered five new wells in the Hivare Narayangaon, Warulwadi, Nimgaon Sawa, Pimpari Pendhar and Ane areas.