Leopard spotted in Thane, injuring several people

A leopard was spotted in a housing society in Maharashtra’s Thane district, where it charged at seven people, leaving them injured on Friday (December 19, 2025) morning, creating a panic situation in the region. 

According to a Navghar police official, a few residents from Parijat housing society and some passersby were injured who were passing by on the Talav Road in Bhayandar East in the early hours. The injured were taken to the nearby hospital.

“Among the injured, a 21-year-old woman is seriously wounded and has been shifted to the government hospital. The Forest Department needs to be vigilant and shift to reach the spot. The CCTV control room should be installed in forest department. They should be the first to react in such situations,” State Minister Pratap Sardaik said.

The Forest Department in Thane received a distress call around 8 a.m., where they got to know that a leopard had been spotted. The forest teams, along with Navghar police station teams, Bhayandar fire brigade, leopard rescue team from Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and other animal rescue agencies, rushed to the spot. The rescue operation continued for 7 hours. 

“Due to a hostile situation, the leopard also got scared and entered a flat, where the feline was trapped and tranquillised in the third attempt. The forest officials evacuated the leopard and took it to the leopard rescue centre in SGNP, where the animal is under medical observation,” said Pawan Sharma from RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare), who is also an honorary wildlife warden.

The Bhayandar attack is a fresh incident in a slew of leopard attacks reported from Maharashtra’s urban and peri-urban areas in the last few months. However, these attacks were mostly reported from the outskirts of Pune city, such as Junnar, Shirur, and other regions. Earlier, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that Pune and Ahilyanagar district alone have 1300 leopards.

 Mr. Sarnaik called the incident dangerous as the leopard entered a residential area, far from the SGNP forest area, saying, today it came here, tomorrow it can come to Mumbai. 

The Maharashtra government has sent a proposal to the centre for the sterilisation of leopards and categorised them as a Schedule II animal. In the meantime, Forest Minister Ganesh Naik in the Assembly suggested releasing goats worth ₹1 crore into the forest.