Trap record: Over 80 big cats in net

Foresters here are on a new high. In perhaps the world’s largest leopard-capturing and translocation exercise, they have trapped and tr...

Foresters here are on a new high. In perhaps the world’s largest leopard-capturing and translocation exercise, they have trapped and transported 88 big cats to sanctuaries in the past 22 months, to tackle leopard migration in western India.

Chief Conservator of Forests, Pune, Prakash Thosare says: ‘‘We tried to trace animal-catching and relocating operations worldwide. This appears to be the biggest.’’

Incidentally, for the past three months, no critical leopard movement has been reported from the northern plains of Junnar in Pune district. Earlier, leopards had taken to multiplying in the sugarcane fields here.

Story continues below this ad

Environmentalists say several irrigation projects in the Western Ghats have forced leopards to come out of their forest homes. Fifteen people have fallen prey to the cats in Junnar since April 2001, besides 535 cattle.

Foresters had ordered the shooting of two man-eating leopards in Junnar and one in Maval. The Maval man-eater was gunned down on September 1, 2002. The animal was singling out humans because of its withering canines and a wounded hind leg.

Thosare said they undertook additional scanning in the region during the sugarcane harvesting months, which brought down the number of attacks. ‘‘We got the harvesting schedules from the sugarcane factories and searched the areas before the harvesters took up their jobs,’’ he said. Cages with preys were also set up to lure the cats.

All the 88 animals captured from more than 1,241 sq km of Pune were successfully relocated. ‘‘Some of them were transported to distances over 800 km,’’ Thosare says. He adds that there was a similar leopard-influx in Gir (Gujarat) and Pauri Garhwal (Uttaranchal), but trapping and transporting the felines was not done in both states.

Story continues below this ad

The Pune exercise was a learning experience for foresters and wildlife experts, as leopards displayed an uncanny ability to adapt by multiplying in sugarcane fields. The menace also brought about a change in trapping techniques. Among these were creation of buffer zones and remote homes to keep the trapped animals.

The state has increased the compensation to be paid to victims of animal attacks. The amounts paid for death or permanent disability has been raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 2 lakh (adult) and from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh for a minor. The new norms came into effect from January 17.