Row over identification of dead NH-7 leopard

Nagpur: Is the death of a leopard that was knocked dead near Manegaon on the Nagpur-Jabalpur highway five days ago a case of mistaken identity? Wildlife lovers and photographers have kicked up a row by claiming that the dead leopard is a female and mother of the black sub-adult and not a male as declared by vets.
The black leopard is regularly being sighted in Telia and Khawasa area in MP Pench’s buffer zone and wildlife photographers claim the leopard that was knocked dead was a female and not a male as claimed.
On September 8, late at night, a leopard was crushed in a hit-and-run. The animal was shifted to the Transit Treatment Centre (TTC), Seminary Hills, where a post-mortem was conducted by wildlife veterinarians Dr Sujit Kolangath, Dr Mayur Pawshe, Dr SP Kakde and Dr Subodh Nandagawli.
After post-mortem, these experienced vets declared the leopard was a sub-adult male. “There is no iota of doubt that the leopard was a female. We identified the animal from its genitals. We have also kept the tissues of the leopard and a DNA test too can confirm it was male but there is no need,” said Dr Kolangath, who has conducted several such post-mortems.
On the contrary, CLaW member and wildlife photographer Ankit Rattan says, “We matched spots of the dead leopard’s pictures and multiple pictures of the female captured during the last two years and drew the conclusion that it the mother of a black leopard.”
Rattan says our team matched every single spot on the forehead, tail, legs, and other body parts of both the leopards which matched. On the contrary, veterinarians say the pictures don’t match.
MP Pench deputy director BP Tiwari said, “The accident took place 6km away from Khawasa border towards Maharashtra side. It is a male leopard and not the mother of the black leopard as claimed. Though there is no sighting of the female in the last four days, it must be due to heavy rains. The mother will not go far when the cubs are with her. There is no scientific basis to the findings by these wildlife lovers.”
Rattan says the aerial distance (as crow flies) from the spot where the leopard was knocked dead is hardly a couple of kilometres from the female leopard’s territory.
“The intention behind this exercise is not to blame the forest department or point out mistakes. We want the MP officials to monitor the black leopard even more closely and take necessary steps to protect her,” said Rattan.
Wildlife NGO CLaW says ever since the widened NH7 got operational, there have been many fatalities of big cats on the Maharashtra side primarily because there is a stark difference between the mitigation steps on MP and Maharashtra sides.
“The Maharashtra side has not been barricaded on both sides that could funnel the animals towards the underpasses. On the MP side, there are green-colored barricades that are light and soundproof stopping animals from coming on the highway,” said Sriram P, a lawyer, and CLaW member.
“On the Maharashtra side, there are huge metal girders as medians running parallel to each other at a height of 3 feet and separated from each other by around 2 feet. This makes the unsuspecting animals, crossing the highway, take a blind leap to cross the road, not having any visibility of vehicles from the opposite direction,” Sriram said.