Leopard leaves PDKV farm, sighted near zoo

Nagpur: Despite being on their toes, forest officials are yet to know the exact whereabouts of the leopard which was first sighted in the city four days ago. After entering the PDKV farm at Bajaj Nagar on Sunday night, the animal was sighted near Maharajbagh zoo on Monday afternoon.
The big cat must have reached the zoo through nullahs crossing vegetation near Kacchipura and the agronomy farm of the PDKV and the zoo. In between, it avoided many human settlements.
The leopard is moving in the city’s concrete jungle for the past four days without harming any humans. On May 28 morning, it had entered the bathroom of Narendra Chakole in Gayatri Nagar opposite VNIT. It later jumped into the premises of Chakole’s neighbour Kishore Jagtap, which is on the edge of the National Power Training Institute (NPTI).
On May 29, the leopard was sighted by a security guard Omprakash Naidu and was also recorded in the CCTV footage of an IT company. On May 30 night, the leopard crossed NPTI to reach the VNIT campus and was sighted by one Atharva Pande while jumping into the PDKV farm around 10.30pm.
At 11pm, Sameer Pisal, the guard on night duty at PDKV guesthouse on Shankar Nagar Road, saw the leopard pouncing on a dog seated outside the guard cabin. “The dog ran, dashed against the main gate and barked loudly. When I came out to check, I was shocked to see the leopard. It waited for a few seconds and walked towards the VC’s bungalow on the premises and jumped inside. The injury marks on the dog are clearly visible,” said Pisal.
On Monday, TOI did a spot visit and found that the sprawling premises of VNIT and PDKV are ideal habitats for leopards. The PDKV area has a perennial nullah. The animal entered from the backyard through a breach and reached the main gate on Shankar Nagar's side.
The otherwise quiet PDKV property was abuzz with activity on Monday. A 9-member team led by Hingna RFO Ashish Ninawe scanned the edge of the farm where there is dense tree cover and tall grass. Leaving no stone unturned, bathrooms of the VC’s camp office were also checked. A dog squad was also deployed.
“Our search came to naught. Due to dry turf, we could not also find direct or indirect evidence,” said RFO Ninawe. However, even as forest officials were planning a new strategy, the animal’s sighting near Maharajbagh Zoo stunned them.
Zoo in-charge Dr Sunil Bawaskar said, “The leopard was sighted by a woman worker Ashabai Nikhare at 3.20pm at the zoo’s border. Having worked for 14 years in the zoo, she can identify a leopard. Along with Nikhare, there were three others, namely Ankit Patil, Ganesh Choudhary and Chhayabai Dhargawe cutting grass.”
“We suspect the animal to be nearby as the area has dense tree cover and a huge agriculture field separated by a nullah. We have installed a CCTV camera near leopard cages in the backyard and increased night security,” Dr Bawaskar said.
Nagpur CCF P Kalyan Kumar said, “Considering the behaviour of the animal, it seems the leopard grew up in Gorewada forest and is well acquainted with human habitations, farms and forest area. The sparse traffic owing to lockdown provided clear passage for its movement.”
“We expected the animal to move towards Ambazari forest but you cannot predict animal behaviour. It has also not harmed any humans and seems to be comfortable,” said Kumar.
“Apart from installing 15-20 camera traps, we have deployed four trap cages at its trail from NPTI, VNIT, PDKV, and Maharajbagh. We have put poultry as bait to lure it,” the CCF said.
BIG CAT TRAIL
* May 28 | Leopard spotted in bathroom of Narendra Chakole in Gayatri Nagar. It later entered the house of Kishore Jagtap
* May 29 | It was sighted by security guard Omprakash Naidu and recorded on CCTV
* May 30 | At 10.30pm, the big cat through VNIT gate no. 10 crossed the road and jumped into PDKV farm at Bajaj Nagar
* May 31 | At 3.20pm, the leopard was spotted on a compound wall near Maharajbagh Zoo