Junnar: Learning to live in leopard country

For Junnar, the year did not begin on a good note – two people lost their lives in January while one was severely injured in February. All three incidents took place within a radius of 10km. This stirred up heated demands by locals to trap “guilty” leopards.

Year begins with conflict, two deaths

Last month, a leopard attacked Kavita Jadhav from Mangrul village. Earlier, barely 2km in Ranmala village, Kalpana Gunjal (35) was attacked and killed by a leopard while working in her onion field. Jadhav survived with injuries, but the Forest department was left with no option but to set up 20 cages in and around the sugarcane fields in a 10km area.

A forest official

Locals are scared. Some are extremely upset and are threatening that if the Forest department didn’t take care of ‘their’ leopards, they will have to take the matters in their own hands.”

Citing details, another forest official said since the first attack in January, the entire forest team has been active. They have set up camps and even camera traps at crucial locations to study the movement of leopards.

“A tranquillising team of Wildlife SOS is constantly moving in the villages. Gram sabha meetings have been held to brief people about the measures being taken. Schools were targeted and students were told about how to avoid conflict with leopards, and were asked to pass on the message to their parents,” said the official, adding that now Village Rescue Teams are being set up in villages like Ranmala and Mangrul, where the attacks took place.

While these are short-term solutions, DCF Dhokte shared they were also looking at some long-term issues. One of the most prominent ones was the three-phase electricity, supplied only during the night. “Since electricity is supplied only at night, farmers are forced to irrigate their lands at that time, when there are maximum chances of a conflict, as leopards too move in the night in search of food. Hence, we have written to the collector and other authorities, including Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), in this regard. Apart from this, we are also suggesting building of toilets in all villages, so that people do not have to defecate in the open. Closed sheds for livestock have also been recommended,” he added.

It’s a love-hate relationship in Ranmala

​As one enters Ranmala, now marked red due to leopard scare in the Junnar taluka, a banner of a leopard with its canines drawn out greets people. It also lists out precautions to be taken to avoid conflict. Even as a curious group reads the pointers, one of them mocks, “Hope the leopard, too, has read this banner.”

In several villages of the taluka, leopard stories are part of the folklore and an important part of the daily discussions in homes. Even market places do not present discussions on prices of onion and sugarcane.

Sambhaji Waghmare

We don’t hate leopards, as sometimes portrayed by the media. It's just that if a human is killed or seriously injured, people panic for their children and family members who work on farms. That's when the equation between people of Junnar and the leopards changes.”

Waghmare (35) owns a 1.5-acre farm in Ranmala, and was the sole witness of a leopard killing Kalpana Gunjal on January 11 this year.

Waghmare still shudders while recalling the evening of January 11. On the fateful day, a piercing scream had made the farmer rush outside his home in Junnar's Ranmala village. What he witnessed in the farm was the spine-chilling scene of a leopard dragging a woman. First he shouted in hope of scaring the leopard, but it got further agitated. The damage was done. Kalpana Gunjal had died. Waghmare had to retreat.
 

He quickly adds that the incident left his family, including his parents, wife, children and brother's family, scared. “We do not allow the children to even leave the house once its dark. In fact, if we have to go out late in the night, we ensure that someone is accompanying us. It's not just my family, but several people across the villages are following this,” he shares. 

Waghmare points out a walking stick fitted with bells, that his mother Yamuna is holding. “If we have to go out in dark, we use this stick. So that the tinkling sound alerts the leopards to our presence. A forest team, which came to our house to create awareness, told this,” he says.

Barely a km from Waghmare's house, another farmer, Peraji Gunjal (65), sips fresh lemonade at his home, surrounded by family members and a couple of forest guards. The group is discussing leopard attacks – three this year – that have left the villagers shaken.

In fact since January, Gunjal's home has started resembling a forest chowky, with the Junnar forest department setting up their base here.“We are being constantly alert while working on the farms. Even if we have to only cut grass, we ensure that one person is standing a watch,” says Peraji Gunjal, another farmer from Ranmala village. He adds that at all times in the day, people walk with music blaring on their mobile phones, as this was also suggested by the Forest department as a measure to avoid conflict.

His neighbour Shivaji Chaudhari, another farmer, is quick to add that once it is dark, people returning on their motorcycles wait for each other. They head back to the village only when a small group has formed. “Most of these things are done a few months following an attack. Once the situation normalises, people get back to their normal routine,” Chaudhari shares with a smile.

A leopard trap set up next to a sugarcane field - dna

The department is staring at a difficult summer ahead, with the land of sugarcane farms embroiled in the man-leopard conflict, yet again.

Villagers take responsibility, form rescue teams

Dressed in a camouflage uniform, Krishna Dere (23) is busy explaining a farm labourer the basic dos and don’ts, in case of leopard sighting. Dere himself owns a 30-acre farm in Narayangaon, Junnar. Standing close is journalist Kiran Wajage, who is quick to add that it is essential to be always alert, while working on a farm.

Apart from Dere and Wajage, over 70 people from nearly 10 villages in the Junnar range have volunteered to be a part of the Village Rapid Response Team (VRRT), which is currently playing one of the most crucial roles in the belt. The trained team consists of handpicked volunteers from individual villages, which are considered to be prone to man-animal conflict. They are the first to react, reach and represent the forest department at the “action” spot.

The idea of setting up such a team was mooted by wildlife biologist Dr Vidya Athreya, who has been studying the interaction between leopard and humans when they share the same space, along with chief conservator of forests (CCF-Wildlife), Pune, Sunil Limaye. The move was proposed late last year, after there were several reports of attacks on humans.
“The chances of villagers listening and reacting positively to their own people are greater in times of crisis. Hence, setting up of the village rescue teams was essential,” said Dr Athreya.

Krishna Dere who became a part of the Narayangaon Village Rescue Team six months ago.

Our biggest advantage is that being locals, we are the first to know of any incident. Recently, I found leopard cubs in my own sugarcane farm. Since I had the training and understanding of leopard behaviour, with the help of the forest staff and Dr Ajay Deshmukh of Junnar Leopard Rescue Centre, we got the cubs reunited with the mother.”

Meanwhile, Wajage says this has been a step in the right direction. “The bigger challenge is to ensure that any attack or deaths are avoided. Our team goes and interacts with the locals and even explains that trapping the leopards will only intensify the problem,” he says.
Deputy conservator of forests (DCF), Junnar (Territorial), VA Dhokte has been working to make the Village Rescue Teams more effective. He shares that such teams have been set up in 30 villages and six training sessions have already been provided.

Dr Ajay Deshmukh veterinarian at Wildlife SOS Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre.

Junnar could be one of those rare places in the country that has such a unique bond with the leopards. The entire village gathers to help a leopard that has fallen in a well or if the cubs are found stranded in sugarcane fields. But just one attack on a human changes everything,”

He adds that is why he, the forest officials and wildlife biologists, are trying to ensure that Junnar learns to live with the leopards.