Maharashtra: Forest dept holds awareness sessions on leopards for Mundhwa residents

There have been no leopard sightings in Mundhwa thereafter. Forest department team has installed trap cameras in the surrounding areas. A search operation is also on for leopards in the riverside areas of Mundhwa.

In the awareness sessions, Nachiket Utpat of RESQ Charitable trust and forest guard Priya Anken guided the citizens. “We discussed the reasons such as a river and presence of stray dogs in the area where the leopard was spotted in Mundhwa. Both sightings were in early morning hours.

While discussing the do’s and dont’s with the residents, an interaction was also held about the root cause of leopard sighting in the area. Besides, we shared information about the coexistence of leopards with humans at various other locations,” said Utpat.

During the two awareness sessions, attended by over a hundred residents, forest officials said that people should not panic and forward AI-generated images. People were asked to contact forest officials for verification of information about the movement of leopards in the city.

A leopard that was spotted several times at the Pune International Airport was captured in the early hours of December 12, after an eight-hour-long intensive multi-agency operation throughout the night led by the Pune forest department, in collaboration with RESQ Charitable Trust, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and airport authorities.

Also, attempts by forest officials are underway to capture the leopard spotted in Aundh, Bavdhan, and Pashan areas of the city. A leopard was seen in RBI Colony and Sindh Society in Aundh on November 23.

On December 5, a leopard was spotted yet again in the Pashan and Sutarwadi areas. Before that, the leopard was sighted in the Bavdhan area of Pune on the night between November 31 and December 1, along the Pashan NDA Road. Subsequently, awareness sessions were also conducted for citizens in these areas, forest officials said.