Leopard Walks inside a house at Thane (23/5/2014)

Leopard walks inside a house at Thane

Woman alerts her husband and neighbours as the leopard walks inside her house

24/5/2014

Author: Pawan Sharma

with inputs from Chinmay Joshi, Utsav Maru, Sagar Pandhi, Vivek Shetia and Hiren Chaudasama for RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) who were all a part of the rescue operation.

A leopard walked inside a house at Warli pada (Thane) late evening creating a distress situation in the area. The leopard was spotted in the area since 7:30 PM in the evening when a few residents began to alert the others.

 It was approx 10:15 PM when the leopard entered the house belonging to Krishna Gajanan Loharkar whose wife was shocked to see the big cat entering her house while she was winding up her daily chores. She soon alerted her husband and other residents around, Loharkar who was inside the house soon managed to escape out avoiding any conflict with the leopard.

The house was soon locked and a wildlife distress intimation was given to the thane police and the forest department. Soon the police with fire brigade and a disaster management team reached the location later joined by a forest department team from the Thane forest department. The leopard rescue team of the SGNP (Sanjay Gandhi National Park) Borivali was on the way.

An intimation of the same incident was received by our team through the forest officials of the park responding to which a six member team from RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) was also on its way to volunteer the forest team for the rescue.

"A two member team was sent to the location as soon as we received the information to check the situation at Warli Pada" said Chinmay Joshi member of  the RAWW rescue team. "A four member rescue team was waiting for the national parks rescue team as per the strategy which was discussed by our team" further added Joshi.

The situation at the location was turning into more complications as the mob kept increasing and the police failed to control them, while the rescue operation was on and strategies and back up plans were being discussed by the forest officials the leopard made an attempt to escape through a opening which was done to locate the animal by the rescue team. The attempt to jump out and escape was unsuccessful but it created a situation where the people started running in different directions falling and stamping each other which made the situation serious, because if the leopard would have managed to jump then it would enter into the mob increasing the chances of a serious human-wildlife conflict no matter because of human error leading to an increase in the already defamed name.

There were several attempts and pans to get the leopard tranquillized but it was hidden inside a bed and thus was not in the range to dart. With increasing pressure and panic the officials decided to make way for the animal to go back to the forest. The house was the last one followed by the forest of national park, the rescue team strategically managed to handle the mob and create a corner space for the leopard to go back to the wild. The wall of the house was broken from a side to make way to escape and the side where the mob was gathered was covered with a big sheet of plywood so that the big cat could not come in public and had only one way/option to move out which was leading into the forest.

The rescue operation was successful after more than four hours of efforts and both the human and wildkind had a safe breath. This act was criticized by many residents and media personals as everybody was expecting that the animal would be caught and taken away also increasing the chances to have a glimpse of the wild cat forgetting that it was its (leopards) own territory which over the years have been encroached and exploited, infact this act according to me has set one of the best examples of human-wildlife management by the forest department. The animal had not caused any harm the humans and it was the best decision by the forest department to give it a chance to go back to its wild habitat which was within 20 to 30 feet away from the house in which it got trapped.

"It was nice to see the leopard going back to the wild with no harm to the human as well as the wild animal" said Sagar Pandhi of RAWW.

"The leopards lived long before the humans started living there, giving it a chance to go back was a great decision of the department" said Utsav Maru of RAWW.

"It was a learning experience to assist and volunteer the forest department in management of a wildlife distress situation" said Vivek Shetia of RAWW who for the first time attended a leopard distress call.

"It was a good feeling to help the department in taking care of their rescue equipments, the whole act was the output of a strategic team work" said Hiren Chaudasama of RAWW.

Special thanks to

Mr. Sudhir Padawle (ACF - Thane forest department)

Mr. Santosh Saste (ACF - Yeoor range, SGNP)

Mr. Salgavkar (RFO - Yeoor range, SGNP)

Dr. Sanjeev Pinjarkar - (Veterinary officer, SGNP)

Mr. Raja Bhoir - (Rescue team, SGNP)

Mr. Sanjay Pagare - (Rescue team, SGNP)

Mr. Namdeo Jirve - (Rescue team, SGNP)

Mr. Vaibahv Patil - (Rescue team, SGNP)

and all the other staff and officers of the forest department, fire brigade, T.M.C and police.