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Central authority to take suo moto cognisance of leopard escape incident at Pune’s Katraj Zoo
As per the protocol, the zoo authority should have informed about the incident to the central zoo authority on priority. However, there was no communication from them, says official
The central zoo authority is planning to take a suo moto cognisance of the leopard escape incident that took place at the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park at Katraj on March 4.
“We will be writing a letter to the wildlife warden in Pune and asking him to submit a detailed report about the incident,” said Sanjay Shukla, member secretary, central zoo authority.
An eight-year-old leopard named Sachin escaped from the quarantine facility, Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WARRC), at around 3-5 am.
The captive leopard was captured 48 hours after efforts made by multiple agencies including zoo officials, forest department, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), police and fire department and RESQ NGO.
The incident has triggered safety and management concerns about the zoo administration.
Rajkumar Jadhav, director, Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, did not inform about the incident to local as well as state and central authorities.
Shukla said, “As per the protocol, the zoo authority should have informed about the incident to the central zoo authority on priority. However, there was no communication from them.”
“The authority will ask the wildlife warden to submit a detailed report about the incident and based on that report, further directives will be issued,’’ he said.
Aditya Paranjape, wildlife warden for Pune forest division, who was also part of the rescue operation, said, “Maharashtra zoo authority is also planning to investigate the incident and the authority is likely to send a team to inspect the zoo in Pune.”
Prabhunath Shukla, member secretary, Maharashtra zoo authority, said, “We have received the report about the incident today (March 6). There are some issues which we wish to investigate and for that, our team will be inspecting the zoo physically.”
“We are now in the process of deciding when and who will be carrying out the investigation. Based on that report the further line of action will be decided. To avoid any such incident to happen in future the appropriate guidelines will be issued to all zoos in Maharashtra,” he said.
The PMC has already initiated a probe in the incident.
Vikas Dhakane, additional commissioner, PMC, said, “The garden department was instructed to submit a detailed report of the incident. The report is likely to be submitted within a week. It will then be submitted to the municipal commissioner and the further action will be decided.’’
