Forest Dept sets up trap cages for killer leopard

Four days after a leopard killed a two-and-half-year old boy at Filmcity, Goregaon — which was the fourth incident of an attack on children in and around Aarey Milk Colony since March — the Thane Forest Department (territorial) has obtained permissions to set up trap cages for the suspected leopard.

Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) for Thane Forest Department (territorial) Sunil Limaye said that they have received the mandatory permissions from the wildlife headquarters in Nagpur to trap the leopard as it was considered a threat.

One trap cage was already installed on Wednesday night, approximately 250 meters away from the spot where Vihaan Garuda was killed on July 22. As per officials, another trap cage was most likely to be installed on Thursday.

"We carried out intensive camera trapping exercises. Based on the evidence and discussions with wildlife experts, we have narrowed down on the area to set up trap cages," said a senior forest official.

Wildlife biologist and leopard expert Dr Vidya Athreya said that the decision was in the right direction. "Aarey has leopard activity and even if this animal is trapped, people need to take precaution to avoid conflict with leopards. The forest department needs to continue to create awareness amongst people," she said.

Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Thane Territorial said that the forest staff was actively patrolling the area and regularly checking the cage traps. "On Wednesday we also visited the Filmcity area and trained their staff on basic methods of avoiding conflict with leopards," he said.