With Centre dragging feet over leopard sterilisation, forest dept focuses on raising awareness
With no action taken by Centre on leopard sterilisation project, Maharashtra forest department has been forced to put more efforts into raising awareness about human-leopard conflict in Pune district
Pune As no action has been taken by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) for more than six months after submitting the draft for the leopard sterilisation project, the Maharashtra forest department has been forced to put more efforts into raising awareness about the rising human-leopard conflict in Pune district.
Amol Satpute, deputy conservator of forests, Junnar forest department, said, “As of now, we haven’t received any update on the leopard sterilisation project. However, the department is taking all possible measures to prevent the conflict situation in Junnar, which is benefitting the citizens in many ways.”
In June 2024, the Maharashtra forest department had submitted a leopard sterilisation proposal to the MoEFCC with the aim to mitigate the rising human-leopard conflict in Pune district. More than six months later, the proposal is still with the ministry. Forest officials on condition of anonymity said that the ministry seems reluctant about giving permission for the leopard sterilisation project. According to them, the ministry is concerned about similar such demands from other states as most areas of the country are facing some or the other form of human-wildlife conflict. The ministry is also concerned that such population control measures might be misused. As such, the Maharashtra forest department, which had placed high hopes on the sterilisation project, is left with no other option but to put more efforts into raising awareness about the rising human-leopard conflict in Pune district.
Earlier limited to the Junnar and Ambegaon tehsils of Pune district, the human-leopard conflict has now spread to four other tehsils including Shirur, Daund, Indapur and even Baramati to some extent. What’s more, the conflict seems to be spreading towards the main residential areas of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad cities, as reaffirmed by the recent leopard sighting in Nigdi. This has become a pressing concern for the authorities, conservationists and citizens. Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have said that Junnar as a leopard habitat might have already breached its carrying capacity.
About the leopard rescued recently in Nigdi, Mahadev Mohite, deputy conservator of forests (DCF), Pune forest department, said, “Leopard rescue requires joint efforts from all stakeholders. The recent leopard rescue operation in Nigdi was completed in a couple of hours and we received good cooperation from other government departments and citizens. Hence, we need to create more awareness among citizens about the possible rise in human-leopard conflict.”
A forest department investigation into the leopard rescue in Nigdi revealed that the leopard possibly came to Nigdi from Dehu village from the Durga Hill side. Deepak Pawar, assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Pune forest department, informed that the leopard was released into its natural habitat after a health checkup.