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Forest department plans to expand leopard facility at Junnar
Forest department to expand leopard facility in Junnar due to rising population. Identified 10 acres near Yedgaon dam, paid ₹1.27 crore for land.
Given the rising leopard population in the Junnar area; the forest department is planning to expand its leopard facility here. For this, the department has identified 10 acres of land on the east side of Yedgaon dam.
“As the land is owned by the irrigation department, the forest department has made a payment of ₹1.27 crore to them and will soon get possession of the land,” said NR Praveen, chief conservator of forest, Pune division.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference, held on Thursday at Van Bhawan in Gokhale Nagar.
Mahadev Mohite, deputy conservator of forest (territorial); Tushar Chavan, deputy conservator of forest (wildlife) and other forest officials were present on the occasion.
Praveen said, “Currently, we have Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre, which is managed by our NGO partner Wildlife SOS. The facility has a capacity of 40 leopards, and it has exceeded its capacity.”
The centre presently houses four types of big cats — too old and unable to hunt, handicapped by grievous injuries in mob attacks, hand-reared, or have spent long terms in captivity such as cubs rescued before 2009 and those captured following serious attacks on human habitation and considered too dangerous for release. Here the leopards are provided with lifetime care.
The department gets at least 10-15 calls each day, about leopard sightings in Junnar. However, since the facility is already overpopulated, it is difficult to accommodate more leopards here.
“The proposal will then be sent to the Central Zoo Authority for its permission. We expect that the facility will be functioning by the next year,” Praveen added.
