3-year-old survives leopard attack, forest officials on the alert

An alert resident from Aarey colony managed to save the life of a three-year-old boy after a leopard grabbed him on Monday night. The incident has left the forest officials worried as this is the second attack since March this year.

Ravi Bhusare, resident of Khadakpada, around 8.30pm, noticed a leopard crouching near his house.

"I saw several children playing around and alerted them. Some of them came running back towards my house. but three-year-old Ritesh Valvi ran the other direction and was grabbed by the leopard. Some of the neighbours and I ran towards the big cat," he said. Seeing the commotion and him charging, the leopard, who had by then dragged the boy some distance, left him and ran away.

Meanwhile, a bleeding Ritesh, who had suffered deep injuries in his chest area as well as throat, was rushed to a private hospital. Ritesh, stays with his parents at Marol, and had come to Aarey for a family function.

Sangeeta Baraf, Ritesh's aunt, said that there were many leopards around but not enough lighting in the area for the residents to be safe.

Baraf also said that they did not want the forest department to trap the leopard as there was also a female leopard with cubs in the area and there were chances that either the mother or the cub could be accidentally trapped.

The forest department has decided not to take the matter lightly. "Our team has visited the site on Monday and even met the family in hospital. We will intensify patrolling and will also be setting up camera traps to monitor the leopard movement," said Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) of Thane Territorial Sunil Limaye.

Meanwhile, Nikit Surve, who has been conducting research on leopards at SGNP visited the hamlet and spoke to locals asking them to be careful and not leave children alone outside after dark. "The site is close to a dense forest patch that is a known for leopard movement and there is lot of garbage strewn around. There are also lots of dogs and poultry around that attract leopard to the area," he said.

In fact, Surve mentioned that he also asked the residents not to pile up firewood around the area as it provides a place for leopards to hide and they may attack due to being caught unaware.

Monitoring the leopard begins:

The forest department has also asked a team of naturalists to keep a track of leopards frequenting Khadakpada and the adjoining areas to identify the individual leopard frequenting the area. Naturalist Rajesh Sanap, who has been carrying out a camera trapping study and monitoring of leopards inside Aarey, said that they have set up camera traps in and around the area where the incident took place. "Locals claim they saw a similar sized animal at the same site at night post the attack. We are constantly in touch with the locals as well as the forest department," he said

NO RELIEF

• With lack of toilets, waste management and no lighting, locals staying inside Aarey milk colony are extremely vulnerable to leopard attacks.
   
• The big cats thrive on the rising dog population due to abundant food found in the form of waste not being cleared up and end up attacking small children mistaking them for smaller preys.
   
• The time has come for the forest department to set up a committee with BMC as well as a dairy department to provide essential services.