Search on for stray leopard spotted in Marol for 2 days

The forest department – which is conducting awareness drives in the neighbourhood and round-the-clock patrolling – said the animal may have visited this particular locality several times before the Covid-induced lockdown in 2020.

Mumbai: The forest department in the city is on high alert after an adult leopard was spotted multiple times at Bhavani Nagar in Marol, Andheri (East) since Tuesday. The department has laid three camera traps in the area to help identify the animal.

Officials said they are being extremely cautious after a 16-month-old toddler was mauled to death by a leopard at Aarey Colony in October last year. “People should remain calm and be assured that we are monitoring the situation, however, young children should not be left unaccompanied in and around Bhavani Nagar, especially when it is dark,” the forest department official said. (HT PHOTO)

The forest department – which is conducting awareness drives in the neighbourhood and round-the-clock patrolling – said the animal may have visited this particular locality several times before the Covid-induced lockdown in 2020.

An official with the forest department, seeking anonymity, said, “There is no need to panic. We have reason to believe that the animal is a regular visitor to the area, and will return to Aarey Colony soon. There is a patch of connecting green cover that the animal can use to go back without encountering humans. It is not stranded in the area, else in two days already some untoward situation could have occurred. It’s a very positive thing that the animal is keeping to itself.”

Officials said they are being extremely cautious after a 16-month-old toddler was mauled to death by a leopard at Aarey Colony in October last year. “People should remain calm and be assured that we are monitoring the situation, however, young children should not be left unaccompanied in and around Bhavani Nagar, especially when it is dark,” the forest department official said.

Residents, on the other hand, remained extremely concerned over the poor response time shown by the forest department. “After a photo and video of the animal started spreading in the area on March 7, people started panicking. I called up the police control room but it seemed they were not having the proper contact details of forest officials. And when the forest officials were finally contacted, they seemed reluctant to take action. It was only after multiple sightings by CCTV did they come to do an inspection,” said Marol resident Vikas Bali.

This is not the first time that a leopard sighting has been reported in Marol. In 2019, a leopard cub entered a residential building called Woodland Crest and had to be rescued after four hours of struggle. Subsequently, in August 2020, multiple leopard sightings were reported around Sher-E-Punjab and Marol, though in both instances no conflict with humans occurred.