Wildlife experts and wildlife veterinarians have raised doubts over the plans, suggesting it would be tough to implement and raise hackles from several quarters.
Castration, a method used to control the population of stray dogs, may be deployed in the future to rein in leopard numbers. In a controversial move, the state forest department is considering castrating leopards around Junnar in Pune to mitigate man-animal conflict.
However, wildlife experts and wildlife veterinarians have raised doubts over the plans, suggesting it would be tough to implement and raise hackles from several quarters.
The state government is commissioning a first of its kind study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to radio-collar and camera-trap these felines and study their dispersal.
To be launched in a fortnight, this will be the first such project in Maharashtra and cover areas in Junnar forest division like Junnar, Rajgurunagar and Shirur where human-leopard conflict is endemic due to population pressures and change in cropping patterns.
The study will ascertain the leopard population and their migration to and from the landscape.
"We have to find non-destructive methods of reducing their population... like castration," said Vivek Khandekar, chief conservator of forests (CCF), Pune. The Rs 3 crore project, spread over four years, was commissioned to study this.
Khandekar said rescued leopards could be castrated before release with numbers being decided in the study. "We do not want to finish them off. Active trapping can be undertaken... if we want to control their population," he explained.
"We will try to understand the reasons of the conflict," said Bilal Habib, head of the Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, WII. He added they would study if the leopard population was local or itinerant, its source and lifespans. The radio-collaring will determine the timings and areas of their movement and warn people.
"If this leopard population is permanent, measures can be taken to control it... If they have migrated from elsewhere, castration will not help, as new leopards will replace them. First, the population dynamics must be understood," said Habib.
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