Junnar forest dept launches all-out operation to catch leopards

At least 20 camera traps and 30 cage traps have been set up across Junnar, and a door-to-door awareness campaign has been undertaken in polling booths and areas identified as leopard hotspots

In the wake of rising leopard attacks – at least three fatal ones in the past one month alone – the forest department in Junnar tehsil has launched an all-out operation to capture leopards roaming free in the neighbourhood. At least 20 camera traps and 30 cage traps have been set up across Junnar, and a door-to-door awareness campaign has been undertaken in polling booths and areas identified as leopard hotspots. This is the first time so many traps have been set up at the same time in Junnar tehsil, said a senior forest officer.

So far, the forest department has captured three leopards including one from Lendesthal in Pimpalwandi and two from Pimpale Pendhar. (HT PHOTO)

So far, the forest department has captured three leopards including one from Lendesthal in Pimpalwandi and two from Pimpale Pendhar. Efforts to capture more leopards will continue for at least 15 days, said Sandesh Patil, assistant conservator of forests, Junnar forest division.

Meanwhile, the sarpanch of Pimpale Pendhar village, Surekha Vethekar, called a meeting on Saturday, May 11, to discuss the human-leopard conflict in Junnar wherein members of 13 villages participated. It was decided that the villagers together will form a pressure group to put forward their demands; chief among them being either killing the leopards or implementing a sterilisation programme.

The rising leopard attacks have caused panic among the villagers apart from having an adverse impact on their social life. Relatives staying outside Junnar are now afraid to visit Junnar due to the possibility of a leopard attack. “Our relatives are scared to come to our village to stay. They are not willing to send their children as kids are more prone to leopard attacks. Leopard attacks are rising and it is having an adverse impact on the social life of villagers,” said Ajay Belhekar, a farmer from Kalwadi village in Junnar.

Villagers’ negligence toward safety guidelines is cause of most fatal leopard attacks

A senior forest officer who did not wish to be named said that forest officials have instructed the villagers several times not to sleep in the open outside their homes or farms. They have asked the villagers to avoid work on the farm that involves sitting. They have asked the villagers not to roam around alone near sugarcane fields and also to raise boundary walls around their houses. Although the villagers have just about started making these changes, there are times when caution is thrown to the wind. So much so that the department has now undertaken a door-to-door awareness programme. Special precautions are being taken to avoid human-leopard conflict on the polling days as many people are expected to come to the village.