Mumbai: Days after sighting, leopard from Dindoshi captured

Mumbai: A male leopard was captured on Tuesday morning in one of the cages installed at Dindoshi in Malad East by the forest department after the residents sighted a leopard a few days back in their vicinity. 

The leopard was handed over to the forest department who took it to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

Over time, a sense of fear developed among residents

The leopard was first spotted near a Marol housing society a little over a week ago and later near a Malad society. Although no one was killed, there was a  sense of fear developed among the residents soon after the leopard was spotted. 

"An adult male leopard walked into a trap cage set by the forest department early hours of Tuesday at Dindoshi. The animal is known as it is in the records of the forest department and has been documented in the past camera trapping and monitoring exercises. It has no history of conflicts in the past and is currently at SGNP, primary examinations indicate it to be healthy however detailed medical examination and observation is underway," said a forest official. 

Leopard to be released back to its natural habitat

According to sources, once the animal is declared fit by vets, it shall be released back to its natural habitat as it is not a conflict animal and at times trapping a potentially calm animal increases its chances of becoming a conflicted one led by the caging trauma.

The forest department installed a cage trap in Marol's Bhavani Nagar on Friday night, where an adult leopard was captured on CCTV cameras on March 7 morning. Though according to sources, sightings of a leopard are not very rare because these residential areas are near the periphery of the natural habitat of the leopards - which is the SGNP, Aarey colony and film city.