Aarey leopard catchers miss their mark

One of the seven cages that were set up inside Aarey colony

Forest officials have suspended the operation to capture leopard C32 that is suspected of attacking people at Aarey colony. Permission to trap or sedate the big cat got over on October 31. For now, they will continue with the camera-trapping exercise.

Over 30 officials from the Thane forest division - Territorial and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park worked in shifts through October to capture the leopard. They were also joined by 15 volunteers. Authorities had set up seven cages.

A forest department official who did not wish to be named said, "The permission given by the PCCF [principal chief conservator of forest] Wildlife to capture or tranquilise suspected leopard C32 got over on October 31. So the operation has been suspended. We will continue with the camera trapping exercise to keep a tab on the movement of the leopards in Aarey colony."

Locals gather near a cage after a leopard walked into it last month

Sources said a few photographs of C32 have been taken by camera traps. They said the big cat went close to a few cages but never tried to enter any of them. In all, the teams have got about 100 photos of leopards at Aarey in the past month.

Kunal Chaudhari, a member of the team documenting leopard activities in the area since 2016, said, "We will continue installing camera traps in Aarey Milk Colony as this will help us get day-to-day updates about the movement of not just C32 but other leopards using the landscape. This data can be helpful if there are more human-animal conflicts."

Since August 31, three leopards, including the sibling of C32, were trapped in cages at Aarey. Apart from the sibling C32, the other two big cats have been released back into the wild. Officials said they have increased night patrolling at Aarey. The team from Sanjay Gandhi National Park is also holding awareness sessions on safety for locals.

Recent leopard attacks

>>Aug 31: Unit 31 resident Lakshmi Umbersade was attacked while returning home around 10 pm
>>Sept 2: Pintu Pandit, in his thirties, suffers injuries on his hand near Unit 32
>>Sept 18: Big cat pounces on Rohit Tilak Bahadur, 10, near Unit 31. The boy was returning home at 7.30 pm
>>Sept 26: Leopard attacks Ayush Yadav, 4, at Unit 3
>>Sept 29: Nirmal Singh, a senior citizen, is attacked in the night near Visawa
>>Sept 30: Rajesh Rawat attacked near Sunil Maidan
>>Oct 8: Darshan Satish Kumar, 14, attacked by a leopard at Unit 13
>>Oct 24: Big cat targets Balwant Yadav on a road between Unit 31 and Unit 4

30
No. of officials pressed into service at Aarey