Maharashtra sends proposal to Centre to relocate leopards to Vantara

The Maharashtra government has proposed to relocate 50 leopards to Vantara, the animal rehabilitation centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat, owned by the Ambani Group. A proposal seeking approval has been submitted to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) as of November 6, Chief Conservator of Forests Jitendra Ramgaonkar has confirmed.

“The proposal to transfer is made only for those leopards who have been in rescue centres for years in the state. The space will be made for the newly rescued animals,” Mr. Ramgaonkar said. He added that other measures to address human-leopard conflict, which fall within the State’s jurisdiction, are being implemented at the district level, and proposals for birth-control measures have been sent to the Centre.

Incidents of human-leopard conflict have been rising in western Maharashtra. On November 2, a 13-year-old boy was killed in Pune district’s Shirur region, the third such death since October 12. The series of leopard attacks has triggered panic and public anger in the Junnar, Shirur, Ambegaon and Khed taluks of the district, where the leopard population has increased sharply.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that around 1,300 leopards are present in Pune and Ahilyanagar districts. “We are in talks with the central government seeking permissions for sterilisation as the population is on the rise and putting down man-eater leopards as required,” he said.

A senior official from the State Forest Department clarified that relocation would be undertaken only as needed. “We are not relocating 1,500 leopards to Vantara, but transferring leopards to rescue centres in various states across the country as and when required. For now, most of the leopards will be rescued from the Junnar area,” the official told The Hindu. Mr. Ramgaonkar also said that the figure of 1,500 leopards is not a “scientific figure”.