The sub-adult leopard was tranquilised and rescued by the forest department and police on Monday. (Express)When Suresh Shinde, an employee of Woodland Avenue Housing Society in Marol, shooed away an animal thinking it was a dog, he was in for a rude shock when the animal growled back at him. He had, in fact, tried to drive away a leopard.
“I was taking pictures of a car in Woodland Avenue building when I saw an animal near it, I shooed it away and later realised it was a leopard when it growled at me. I ran towards the society gate in fear. I called police and alerted the gatekeeper of the neighbouring building where the leopard had jumped into,” said Shinde, a resident of Marol. On Monday morning, a two-year-old male leopard was spotted at Woodland Crest Society in Marol, Andheri (East), at 9.30 am. The leopard was rescued in a three-hour operation, after it accidentally holed itself up below a staircase.
“As Suresh came running out, I saw the leopard leaping over the wall and landing on the parking area. I saw it entering the building. We alerted the guard and all the residents,” said Rajesh Yadav, a juice seller.
The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Thane rescue team arrived around 11 am, after which they confirmed that the leopard was hiding inside the Woodland Crest building. “After recording statements from witnesses, we concluded that the leopard was not on the upper floors. We entered the building from the first floor staircase area and came down scanning the floor, it was hiding under the staircase on the ground floor of the building,” said Yogendra Satam, member of the quick response team of the Mumbai Police.
After the area was combed and the leopard spotted, it was tranquilised and taken to the SGNP rescue centre. “Every rescue operation is difficult, but this was particularly complicated as the only way to see the leopard in this case was a direct encounter. In case of the rescue operation at Korum Mall, Thane, (in February) the area was huge and we could lure the leopard out by bursting crackers and see its movement. In this case, the area was small and it was stuck in the area below the staircase,” said Pawan Sharma, honorary wildlife warden, state forest department.
All the leopards in and around the national parks are studied and documented with the help of camera traps and also microchips, which document information on the leopard. “After a difficult and risky rescue operation of about three hours, the leopard was finally tranquilised and safely brought to the SGNP rescue centre. There were no fresh wounds on the leopard. We did a health check-up and blood sampling. Once the leopard is found fit, the decision about its release will be taken,” said Dr Shailesh Pethe, veterinary officer of the SGNP.
The leopard rescued on Monday did not have a microchip, which means it had not been caught before. The images of the animal will be compared with camera traps of the leopards which have been documented earlier. If it matches, the last known place of the animal will be known. Teams will then be deployed to find the exit points from where the leopard escaped.
Sharma added, “Sub-adult animals, while developing their territory, explore a lot.”
This is not the first time a leopard has been sighted in the Andheri (East) vicinity. In 2017, a leopard strayed into the densely populated Sher-e-Punjab Colony in Andheri (East) and had entered a play school.
