Mumbai: Leopard attacks man in Aarey colony, MLA slams forest department

Hours after a leopard killed a 16-month-old girl in Aarey Milk Colony on Monday morning, a big cat charged at a man at unit 16, another area in the colony.

In the wake of the first incident, the authorities started clearing the bushes in and around houses close to the forest patch and installed 12 camera traps. Officials have now set up five more camera traps.

Sources told this newspaper that the animal suspected of carrying out both attacks has been identified.

The injury sustained by the doctor who was attacked by a big cat on Monday evening; (right) Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar met the family of Etika Lot, who was killed by a leopard, at Aarey Milk Colony on Tuesday afternoon

"On Monday evening, a leopard attacked a doctor at unit 16, but thankfully, he had very minor claw injuries. The big cat is from Aarey Milk Colony. More trap cages will be installed in the area along with camera traps. Many leopard sightings were reported on Monday evening," the source said.

On Tuesday afternoon, SGNP Field Director G Mallikarjun, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Santosh Saste from the Thane forest department (territorial) and local Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar met the family of the deceased girl, Etika Lot.

Also Read: Mumbai: Forest department to fortify Aarey colony with four outposts at vantage points

Waikar said, "If the forest department had taken the leopard attack that took place at Adarsh Nagar during Navratri - where a small child was injured - seriously, they would have trapped the suspected leopard. My only request to the forest department is to trap it as soon as possible before someone else dies."

He was referring to the attack on four-year-old Himanshu Yadav on October 3.

The leader also instructed forest department officials to speed up the process of providing compensation to the family of the victim at the earliest.

G Mallikarjun said, "We have speeded up the process to trap the big cat suspected of being behind the human-leopard conflict. Camera traps have been installed and trap cages are active. The staff from the Tulsi range of SGNP and Mumbai range of the Thane forest department will assist the volunteers in camera trapping exercises. Awareness sessions in tribal hamlets and other residential areas along with night and day patrolling will be conducted on a regular basis. We would also caution the people not to send small kids out during the evening, night and early morning."

Sources from the forest department also told this newspaper on Tuesday that none of the camera traps installed in and around the area after the first incident captured an image of any big cat.