Leopard sighting in Delhi’s Bawana keeps forest officials on their toes

Police said a resident of Sector 3 called the police control room on Monday evening, claiming he saw a leopard chasing a nilgai

The Delhi forest and wildlife department on Tuesday said it has begun patrolling Bawana after residents claimed they had spotted a leopard in the area.

Over the last few weeks, there have been several leopard sightings across Delhi. (HT Archive)

Police said a resident of Sector 3 called the police control room on Monday evening, claiming he saw a leopard chasing a nilgai into a forested patch in the vicinity. “Our teams reached the spot and the forest department was also called in,” said deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Ravi Singh.

A senior forest department official said a team had been deployed by them on Tuesday morning, which will carry out regular patrolling in the area.

“Following the call on Monday evening, our team reached Bawana, but nothing was spotted there, including any possible pugmarks. However, as a precautionary measure, a team will continue to monitor and patrol the area,” the forest official said, on condition of anonymity.

The sighting could have been of a leopard moving along the Yamuna floodplains, possibly coming from as far as the Rajaji National Park in the Shivaliks, experts said. “Leopards are a highly adaptable species and can survive even in dense urban environments. They simply need tall grass to hide,” said Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist in-charge of DDA’s Biodiversity Parks programme.

The possible sighting comes almost a month after a sub-adult leopard was found dead at Alipur in north Delhi after it was hit by a vehicle on NH-44. The incident occurred on December 12, but the forest department, just a day earlier, had received a call regarding a leopard sighting in Burari — around 4kms from the spot.

A leopard was also sighted multiple times in south Delhi’s Sainik Farms in the first week of December.