Nashik: Wildlife Treatment Centre Inaugurated in Mhasrul Vanrai Depot

The much-awaited Mhasrul Vanrai Depot Transit Treatment Centre, aimed at treating injured wildlife in North Maharashtra using modern technology, has been inaugurated. This facility, modelled after the treatment centre in Pune, will provide immediate medical care to injured wild animals in Nashik. Forest Range Officer and Nodal Officer Seema Musale announced that the centre includes separate rooms for leopards, tigers, and other wildlife, ensuring they receive necessary treatment promptly.

Since 1988, the Forest Department had proposed the construction of a 'Transit Treatment Centre' to offer immediate treatment for injured wildlife. After numerous follow-ups, the district planning committee approved the centre in 2021 through a revised report. Funds were transferred to the construction department in October 2021, and the construction was completed after two years. The centre now stands on two acres of land with a well-equipped building.

MoU signed with NGO

An MoU has been signed with an NGO to oversee observation, wildlife treatment, and other activities at the centre. The facility includes four rooms for leopards and one room for tigers, enabling treatment for tigers from Muktainagar, Jalgaon, and Yaval, as well as leopards from North Maharashtra. Previously, tigers from regions like Chandrapur, Nagpur, and Nandurbar had to be taken to Borivali's Sanjay Gandhi National Park for treatment or translocation. Now, these animals can be treated in Nashik. The centre is staffed full-time by veterinary officer Dr Hemraj Sukhwal, Ayush Patil, Manoj Waghmare, Rakesh More, and Samarth Mahajan.

The centre is equipped with, separate cages for leopards and wild animals, observation room, operation theatre, ICU, autopsy room, X-ray room, medical and food storage, treatment and rescue materials room, rooms for reptiles and amphibians, five rooms for small wildlife and space for roaming, 'flying testing areas' at two locations, Seven rooms for different species of birds, Six chambers for pasture and herbivores and Separate arrangement for cremation of dead wildlife

A leopard cub was found in Kotamgaon Shivar five months ago. The cub was a newborn found in a sugarcane field by the workers. The reunion of the leopard cub and mamma leopard failed, so the forest department decided to take care of the leopard cub at the Transit Treatment Centre.

Centre Construction Details

- Fund: ₹4.92 crore

- Approval: April 2021

- Foundation stone laying: October 4, 2021

- Commencement of Work: November 2021

- Completion of Work: October 2023

- Centre Commencement: June 2024