How forest dept plans to sterilise 47 Junnar leopards to control numbers

People successful these villages were asked not to measurement retired earlier 9 americium and aft 5 pm. In June this year, Pune District Collector Suhas Diwase had notified implicit 230 villages successful 4 talukas of Pune territory — Junnar, Ambegaon, Shirur and Khed — arsenic being prone to catastrophe owed to repeated incidents of human-leopard conflicts, successful which aggregate deaths and respective superior injuries were reported.

“There are six hotspots that we person identified successful Junnar wood part and each of these hotspots person a leopard colonisation of adjacent to 40. One of the cardinal drivers for the emergence successful the leopard colonisation is immense maturation successful the country nether sugarcane plantation. In July earlier this year, the authorities wood section sent a connection to the Centre to sterilise 47 leopards successful the area,” said lawman conservator of Forest (Junnar Division) Amol Satpute.

The connection sent by Maheep Gupta, main main conservator of forests (wildlife) to the MoEFCC said, “A survey was conducted by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) successful collaboration with Maharashtra Forest Department nether the task titled ‘Understanding Population Dynamics, Space Use, Movement and Diet of Leopards successful Junnar for Human Leopard Conflict mitigation’. The study identified hotspots wherever human-leopard conflicts were prominently high.

It states that the irrigation projects successful the past mates of decades person led to the enlargement of sugarcane cropping areas successful the landscape. Sugarcane crops relationship for a harmless situation to fell and breed, and predominant livestock enactment successful the surroundings provides a bully accidental for leopards to depredate connected them. The availability of sugarcane and home prey is helping the leopard colonisation to thrive successful this landscape.”

The missive further stated, “The study highlights commencement power measures specified arsenic mechanical methods, endocrine-disruptive, immune-contraceptive arsenic good arsenic surgical methods. Considering the above-mentioned techniques, their usage, practicality, complications, and the effects they person connected the beingness of the animals, subjecting the antheral to laparoscopic vasectomy and pistillate animals to laparoscopic tubectomy would beryllium the astir feasible enactment for the applicable implementation of commencement power for leopards successful this landscape.

A program to seizure 11 antheral and 36 pistillate leopards successful the identified villages has been made and laparoscopic tubectomies and laparoscopic vasectomies volition beryllium conducted connected these antheral and pistillate leopards respectively. Such a targeted commencement power measurement would immensely assistance successful decreasing the complaint of the expanding leopard population. The full cognition shall beryllium carried retired nether the supervision of experts on with the guidance of the Wildlife Institute of India.”