Mumbai: Two leopards trapped in cages in Aarey Colony

Mumbai: Two leopards on Tuesday walked into trap cages kept at a specific spot in Mumbai's green lung Aarey Colony, which had seen multiple incidents of human-animal conflicts in the recent past, forest officials said. So far four leopards have been captured over a month.

Multiple incidents of human-leopard conflicts had taken place in Aarey Colony in which a two-year-old child was killed, officials said.

"Trap cages were placed at Dairy Unit no 15 in Aarey Colony. Two leopards walked into the cages on Tuesday morning," a forest department official said.

He said teams of Thane Territorial Wing (Mumbai range), Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), volunteers and representatives of various wildlife organisations are involved in the identification of the suspect animal (s) behind the attacks, setting trap cages, night patrolling, awareness sessions, monitoring by camera trapping exercise etc, said Pawan Sharma, founder and president of RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) and Honorary Wildlife Warden with the State Forest Department.

"In the early hours of Tuesday, a leopard walked into a trap cage. When rescue teams were checking and deactivating the trap cage, they found another leopard roaming freely near the trapped leopard," added Sharma.

As the spotted animal was roaming around the cage for hours, the forest department could not shift the leopard for examination. "It was then decided by senior forest officials to tranquillize the free-roaming animal and shift them both for further examination," he added.

While the team was approaching the leopard it vanished into bushes, Sharma said. "The Forest department soon made an alternative strategy to quickly set another trap cage near the trapped leopard and wait for the animal to return. Around 11:30 am, the free leopard also walked into the cage, making it the fourth leopard to be captured from the radius of the conflict zone," he added.

Both the animals are shifted to SGNP for further medical examination and identification. "Once the suspected animal is identified, the other will be released back to its natural habitat," said a forest official.

Recent leopard attacks at Aarey Colony

October 4: 5-year-old Himanshu Yadav, an Adarsh Nagar resident

October 24: 16-month-old Etika Lot was killed in an attack at Unit 15

November 6: Ram Yadav, 61, suffered minor injuries after an encounter