It's a big lie, there are no tigers in Aarey Milk Colony in Mumbai

A viral picture of a tiger on a road had left Aarey locals on the edge

Never mind what WhatsApp tells you, there are no tigers roaming around Aarey Milk Colony, or anywhere in the city, for that matter.

Aarey locals have been on edge ever since pictures of a tiger crossing the road have gone viral on WhatsApp groups, which claim the big cat was spotted here. The tiger's images have been making the rounds on WhatsApp for the last couple of days, and one of the locals even forwarded the photographs to wildlife volunteer Satish Lot, who is part of a camera trapping exercise at Aarey.
"I tried explaining to the person that the images were not from Aarey, because there are no tigers in the forest belt across Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Leopards are the apex predator in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Aarey. I requested the person not to spread wrong information, as rumors can create unnecessary fear," said Lot.

Spots and stripes
Interestingly, the Warli and Goma tribes, living in Aarey and SGNP, refer to leopards as wagh (tiger), which can lead others to think that there are tigers here. However, if one were to ask the tribespeople what they mean by wagh, they explain that they are referring to a tipkyawala wagh (spotted big cat) and not pattewala wagh (striped big cat).

The pictures were taken on the Chiplun-Karad highway, which passes through the buffer zone of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve

mid-day traced the viral pictures to a Facebook post by animal welfare activist Omkar Rane. He told mid-day, "The pictures of the tiger crossing the road were clicked by my friend, Praveen Vaidya, during a recent journey via the Chiplun-Karad highway. The highway passes through the buffer zone of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, and tiger sightings should not come as a surprise. I had also seen tigers twice in that area."

This is not the first such hoax. Just over a week ago, two videos of a leopard rescue operation were widely circulated on WhatsApp, with several people claiming the big cats were rescued from Aarey. However, the pictures were really taken at Dahanu and the Ahmednagar-Nashik belt.

Ben V Clement, chief conservator of forests, Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, said, "We will get in touch with the person who has clicked the picture, and the team will also visit the spot where the person claims to have taken the picture. We cannot comment until investigations end."

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates