Leopard enters Nigdi, rescue op takes 2 hours

Pune: A six-year-old adult male leopard entered a densely populated neighbourhood in Nigdi Pradhikaran triggering panic on Sunday.
The leopard was caught on surveillance cameras early in the morning when it was walking along a bungalow's boundary wall. The area is adjacent to a park where children were playing. CCTV camera footage from a nearby bungalow also caught the animal in frame, making residents believe for a while that there were two leopards present.
Area resident Ashish Shinde said they were fearful. "My children were in the said garden playing for two hours. I received news of the leopard sighting after they returned. Our safety stands threatened. Such an incident has occurred in our particular neighbourhood after a long time, despite sightings in other areas. All of us stayed indoors for a few hours because anything could have happened."
Shinde said residents are afraid the incident may happen again, especially after leopard sightings in Durga Hill and Dehu. It had never been so close to human settlement though, he added.
Meanwhile, word spread like fire and citizens remembered experiencing a similar fear over the sightings in Pimpri Chinchwad last year.
Local rescue operators and professionals said they had received multiple calls from Ravet, Dehu and a few nearby areas about leopard sightings in Jan.
Ritesh Sathe of Scales and Tales Rescue Foundation told TOI, "We think it might have been the same leopard as seen in Jan since its movements have suggested he was close to human settlement. There has been a rapid increase in big cats entering residential areas in Maharashtra. Primarily, because stray dogs are easy prey for leopards and they stray into settlements looking for food. Boundaries expanding and closing in on animal habitat has also led to conflict. Sunday's incident could have been fatal if not for good coordination."
The leopard which was identified as a strong adult was sneaking around the area. At 9.15am, assistant conservator of forests Deepak Pawar (Pune forest division) was informed. He alerted Neha Panchamiya, founder and president of RESQ Charitable Trust. Panchamiya mobilised the RESQ CT team immediately. Panchamiya and Nachiket Utpat from RESQ reached the site by 9.45am. They assessed the situation and tracked the leopard's movement. Spotted in a public park initially, the leopard had entered the premises of a row house, where only caretakers were present.
A thorough search revealed the leopard taking cover behind a tin shed at the back of the house. As the Pune forest department team, RESQ CT team and Pimpri Chinchwad police approached the animal cautiously, it jumped back into the public park. It was seeking cover and hid next to a room with a woman and two young adults.
"The leopard may have come in from the Dehu area. It did not try to attack anyone. We used four darts and the leopard was tranquillised," said Aditya Paranjape, honorary wildlife warden.
RESQ CT veterinarian Dr Kalyani Thakur tranquillised the leopard safely around 11.30am. "Once immobilised, the animal was carefully brought out and transported in a rescue ambulance for medical assessment. The leopard is currently undergoing evaluation at the Wildlife Transit Treatment Centre in Bavdhan," said Panchamiya.
The forest department is assessing the leopard's health before releasing it in the wild. "He seems fit and weighs 57kg. Last Sept, we had conducted a rescue operation in Chikhali. Usually, leopards appear at human settlements while walking along small riverines and rivers," said Mahadev Mohite, deputy conservator of forests, Pune.
There have been 10 confirmed and one suspected human death because of leopard attacks notified in Pune district in financial year 2024-2025.