Leopard killed in hit-and-run on Ahmedabad highway at Talasari

A leopard severely injured in a hit and run case on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, near Talasari was rescued by members of Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Association (WCAWA) along with officials from Dahanu Forest, but not before the leopard attacked and injured a few of them. However it succumbed to its injuries by the time it reached Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Monday evening.

As per Wildlife Warden of Dahanu, Dhaval Kansara who is also Founder of WCAWA they received a phone call at around 9 am informing about an injured leopard hiding in bushes in Kajali village around 200 meters from the Highway. "We reached the spot along with forest department staff at around 11am and a huge mob had already gathered at the site. The leopard was hiding without making any movement and as a forest staff moved closer to check if the leopard was unconscious, it suddenly leapt towards him and attacked on his thighs,"Kansara informed adding that while the forest officer managed to escape the big cat then turned towards him biting on his leg as he moved to save the forest official.

"Soon other volunteers who rushed forward seeing the situation too received minor claw injuries but soon we managed to use a snare to grab the leopards body and it was rescued,"said Kansara.

Since the leopards injuries seemed to be grievous in nature as it was seen dragging its hind limbs to move ahead, a decision was taken to send it to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) for further treatment.

A senior forest department official said that the Dahanu forest department officials should have carried out the rescue more responsibly. "Its strange they simply went so close to an injured leopard. They should have been more careful as someone could have ended up being severely injured or even dead and should have consulted experts," said an official.

Veterinary Officer, Dr Shailesh Pethe informed that the leopard was brought dead. "It came to us around 5.30 pm and must have died on the way. We will carry out the postmortem on Tuesday, which will provide information on what caused it death," said Pethe.