Leopard stirs panic in Pune village

The Jaulake Khurd village in the Khed range of the Pune district of Maharashtra experienced a spike in human-leopard conflict after an adult leopard was found wandering in the area.

On Friday night, the leopard was successfully rescued in a 10-hour long operation by Maharashtra Forest Department and Wildlife SOS.

The MFD was first alerted of the leopard sighting as it repeatedly came into conflict with residents of Jaulake Khurd Village in the Khed range of Maharashtra.

The Wildlife SOS team operating out of the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Junnar assisted the MFD in conducting a 10-hour long rescue operation to safely extract the leopard from the conflict zone.

The first step was to track the leopard, which the department and Wildlife SOS were able to confirm from camera traps and pugmarks. Yet, the initial attempt to rescue the leopard was disrupted as the frightened feline fled the location, forcing the authorities to take on a different approach.

Eventually, the leopard was spotted sitting in tall grasslands and the forest department acted promptly and secured the area around the leopard using safety nets.

Numerous precautionary measures were utilized such as wearing protective gear and blocking every exit point.

A trap cage with food bait was then placed nearby to lure the leopard in.

After several hours of waiting, the leopard successfully entered the trap cage and was transferred to the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre for medical observation.

Pradip Raundal, Range Forest Officer, Khed Range, Maharashtra said, “The Jaulake Khurd village has previously not experienced as much human-leopard conflict. However, leopards are slowly shifting into this area. The biggest challenge we faced in rescuing this leopard was that it was camouflaged during the day and extremely active at night. ”

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, said, “We were glad to have been of assistance to the Maharashtra Forest Department in conducting the safe rescue of this leopard. Depletion of natural prey base and habitat due to encroachment and deforestation forces them to seek out easily available prey such as poultry and livestock in human settlements. This often leads to human-leopard conflicts which have violent and brutal consequences for both humans and wildlife.”