A male leopard stuck in a snare was rescued from a village in Dahanu on Wednesday afternoon after a two-hour long operation by the forest department and the members of Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Association (WCAWA).
A leopard stuck in a wire snare was rescued from a village in Dahanu on Wednesday afternoon after a two-hour long operation by the forest department and the members of Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Association (WCAWA).
The Dahanu forest department received a call from a local woman around 10:30 am about a wild animal sitting close to a tree near her farm in Sogave village, around six kilometers away from the city. The woman, Michelle Chawla, runs Tamrind Tree School for local tribal children.
Wildlife warden Dhaval Kansara who is also the founder of WCAWA informed that they reached the spot with the forest department and confirmed that it was a leopard. They were surprised to see that the leopard was not moving around.
“We realised that the leopard was stuck in a wire snare that was attached to the tree. Even as the leopard rescue team from Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) was on its way, we did not want to waste time. We were worried that the leopard might injure itself in a bid to escape and there was also a mob beginning to gather,” he said.
A plan was drawn on the spot by rescuers from WCAWA and forest department. It was decided to take a trap cage in a vehicle close to the leopard.
Team that rescued leopard stuck in wire snare in Dahanu (Virat A Singh/DNA )
Seeing the cage, the leopard seemed eager in getting inside the cage. “The wire snare was long and the leopard almost entered the cage and we snapped the wire and quickly shut the gates ensuring the leopard was successfully trapped,” said Kansara.
According to Shailesh Deore, head of the SGNP's leopard rescue team, by the time they reached the spot, the leopard was already rescued.
“This was certainly one of the most massive leopards I have come across. It was a healthy male and its age is estimated to be around seven years. The work done by WCAWA team is appreciated as they ensured a timely and safe rescue,” he said.
Dr. Manish Pingle who is on the panel of SGNP's consulting Veterinarian and accompanied Deore informed, “We checked the leopard, which was in the cage and there was a wire snare around its waist. The big cat was tranquilised and we carefully removed it. There were some superficial wounds, which wee dressed."
"We also collected its blood sample and took images of its flanks,” he said adding that the leopard can be released in 24 to 48 hours.
As per Forest department officials, most of the times these wire snares are used to trap wild boars by local villagers.
"These wire snares are nothing but brake wire and are placed in a manner that a mammal will get trapped and cannot escape, in fact the more it tries to move the tighter the snare gets. These snares are set by locals to mostly hunt smaller mammals including wild boar for meat and most of the times other mammals including leopards are known to get stuck in it," said an official.
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 "Leopard rescued in Dahanu")
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