After 50 yrs, two big cats spotted in Pune

Citing the Pune Gazetteer, Thosare said a tiger was spotted in the district in 1954. He said, ‘‘This is a rare and exciting development for us.’’ The CCF did not specify the location where the tigers were spotted. ‘‘We do not want hunters and poachers to reach them,’’ he said.

In keeping with the national policy, an elaborate animal census was carried out in the four forest divisions — Pune, Solapur, Junnar and Bhor — of Pune circle in April. One of the specific focus of the exercise was to spot tigers and leopards on the basis of pugmarks and other direct and indirect evidence like attacks on animals and presence near 330 water-bodies across the forect circle.

According to the figures released by the department, black bucks dominate the animal population in Pune with their numbers touching 5,461 followed by 2,840 chinkaras. Besides, foxes (453), leopards (34) and Great Indian Bustard (18), an assortment of wild-boar, langurs, monkeys, wild cat and shekru were counted too.

According to Thosare, the numbers are indicators of presence of various animals rather than specific numbers, which are impossible to reach. For instance, he pointed out that Solapur has only 2.5 per cent of its area as forest.