<p>Mumbai: In a significant move amid Maharashtra’s escalating leopard crisis, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has referred Navi Mumbai-based NatConnect Foundation’s appeal for wildlife-policy reform to the National Tiger Conservation Authority. </p><p>The human-leopard crisis is one of the biggest challenges that the Maharashtra government and the Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD) is facing. </p><p>The petition, triggered by the killing of a leopard labelled a “man-eater” in Pune district, seeks a comprehensive, science-led approach to managing human–wildlife conflict and curbing unplanned expansion into forest landscapes.</p><p>The PMO’s grievance portal shows the matter has been assigned to Mohammad Sajid Sultan, Assistant Inspector General at NTCA.</p>.Mumbai now has 54 leopards, highest density in the world.<p>NatConnect Director B N Kumar said this marks an important step forward, noting that the Authority’s field-tested tiger-conservation experience can help shape a wider, science-based framework for protecting leopards, elephants and other wildlife.</p><p>“Protecting people is essential, but eliminating wildlife never solves conflict. We must fix the root causes,” he said.</p>.<p>NatConnect has also learnt that its separate plea to save wild elephant Omkar is under active process with wildlife scientist Sudheer Chaintalapati in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.</p><p>Kumar said the parallel scrutiny by NTCA and MoEFCC suggests that the Centre recognises the need for a more holistic rethink of conflict-management practices across species.</p><p>He stressed that shrinking forests, fragmented corridors, expanding human settlements without ecological assessment, unmanaged waste and a surge in stray-animal populations continue to push wildlife into high-risk zones. “Maharashtra cannot afford more knee-jerk responses that ignore long-term planning needs,” he said. NatConnect’s online petition has already gathered support from over 1,500 wildlife lovers and conservationists from India and abroad.</p><p>The urgency of the issue has sharpened with the case of wild elephant Omkar, a free-ranging bull separated from his herd and declared a threat after villagers reportedly burst firecrackers near him.</p>.Man-eater leopard shot dead in Maharashtra's Pune district.<p>The Bombay High Court’s Kolhapur Bench allowed his temporary capture and relocation to the Vantara rehabilitation centre in Gujarat. Maharashtra forest department has informed the Court that the transfer is temporary, with the case listed again November 24, 2025.</p><p>Kumar said the Pune leopard’s killing and Omkar’s relocation underline India’s lack of a unified, science-driven conflict-management protocol. He noted that removing or shifting wildlife does not eliminate conflict because the forces driving animals into human spaces—habitat loss, corridor breaks, unmanaged garbage and pressure from stray animals—remain unaddressed. Environmental advocate Jyoti Nadkarni stressed that the leopard is central to the food web and that removing it destabilize an already fragile ecological balance.</p><p>NatConnect has urged the Prime Minister to steer states toward habitat protection, corridor restoration, planned development at forest edges, better waste and stray-animal management and professionally trained conflict-response teams.</p><p>“Omkar and the Pune leopard should not become isolated incidents. They must trigger a national rethink,” Kumar added.</p>
<p>Mumbai: In a significant move amid Maharashtra’s escalating leopard crisis, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has referred Navi Mumbai-based NatConnect Foundation’s appeal for wildlife-policy reform to the National Tiger Conservation Authority. </p><p>The human-leopard crisis is one of the biggest challenges that the Maharashtra government and the Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD) is facing. </p><p>The petition, triggered by the killing of a leopard labelled a “man-eater” in Pune district, seeks a comprehensive, science-led approach to managing human–wildlife conflict and curbing unplanned expansion into forest landscapes.</p><p>The PMO’s grievance portal shows the matter has been assigned to Mohammad Sajid Sultan, Assistant Inspector General at NTCA.</p>.Mumbai now has 54 leopards, highest density in the world.<p>NatConnect Director B N Kumar said this marks an important step forward, noting that the Authority’s field-tested tiger-conservation experience can help shape a wider, science-based framework for protecting leopards, elephants and other wildlife.</p><p>“Protecting people is essential, but eliminating wildlife never solves conflict. We must fix the root causes,” he said.</p>.<p>NatConnect has also learnt that its separate plea to save wild elephant Omkar is under active process with wildlife scientist Sudheer Chaintalapati in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.</p><p>Kumar said the parallel scrutiny by NTCA and MoEFCC suggests that the Centre recognises the need for a more holistic rethink of conflict-management practices across species.</p><p>He stressed that shrinking forests, fragmented corridors, expanding human settlements without ecological assessment, unmanaged waste and a surge in stray-animal populations continue to push wildlife into high-risk zones. “Maharashtra cannot afford more knee-jerk responses that ignore long-term planning needs,” he said. NatConnect’s online petition has already gathered support from over 1,500 wildlife lovers and conservationists from India and abroad.</p><p>The urgency of the issue has sharpened with the case of wild elephant Omkar, a free-ranging bull separated from his herd and declared a threat after villagers reportedly burst firecrackers near him.</p>.Man-eater leopard shot dead in Maharashtra's Pune district.<p>The Bombay High Court’s Kolhapur Bench allowed his temporary capture and relocation to the Vantara rehabilitation centre in Gujarat. Maharashtra forest department has informed the Court that the transfer is temporary, with the case listed again November 24, 2025.</p><p>Kumar said the Pune leopard’s killing and Omkar’s relocation underline India’s lack of a unified, science-driven conflict-management protocol. He noted that removing or shifting wildlife does not eliminate conflict because the forces driving animals into human spaces—habitat loss, corridor breaks, unmanaged garbage and pressure from stray animals—remain unaddressed. Environmental advocate Jyoti Nadkarni stressed that the leopard is central to the food web and that removing it destabilize an already fragile ecological balance.</p><p>NatConnect has urged the Prime Minister to steer states toward habitat protection, corridor restoration, planned development at forest edges, better waste and stray-animal management and professionally trained conflict-response teams.</p><p>“Omkar and the Pune leopard should not become isolated incidents. They must trigger a national rethink,” Kumar added.</p>