Release goats into forest to curb leopard attacks: Maharashtra Forest Minister

Maharashtra Forest Minister Ganesh Naik on Tuesday stated he has suggested that forest officials release large numbers of goats in forests to prevent leopards from entering human settlements in search of food.

“The State has to pay Rs. 1 crore compensation if four people lose their lives in the leopard attack. Let’s assume four people are killed, and that compensation money could be used to release the goats worth Rs 1 crore into the forest. As leopards will get enough food in the forest, they might not venture into human settlements,” he said.

Mr Naik was addressing a calling attention motion raised by NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad on the second day of the winter session in Nagpur. Mr Awhad said that the state is witnessing an “alarming” increase in leopard attacks.

The leopard attacks have increased rapidly in Pune, Ahilyanagar, Junnar, and other areas, and now the issue has entered the assembly, where Mr Naik discussed measures to curb attacks. Earlier, the Maharashtra government claimed that around 1,300 leopards are present in the Pune and Ahilyanagar districts. The experts alleged that the reasons are shrinking forests, a lack of food in jungles, and an increase in the leopard’s population.

The Maharashtra government has sent a proposal to the Centre to categorise the leopard as a Schedule-II animal and grant permission for sterilisation.

“The Centre has given permission to sterilise only five animals on an experimental basis and wait for three years for impact. However, the State has decided to take up the issue again after experimenting for six months,” Mr Naik said. Days ago, Mr Naik also made a comment such as “human-eater leopard to be shot at sight”.

While speaking to media persons, he pointed out that due to a lack of fruit-bearing trees in forests, there is a lack of carnivorous animals for leopards to eat as food. A leopard is no more a forest animal, but a sugarcane animal. We have taken a stand that the leopards, which are growing in non-forest areas, should not be counted in the wild animal census.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Nana Patole raised his apprehensions, saying, “Such a proposal hardly gets accepted, and as a person who was part of the committee on wildlife issues, I can say the government will not approve of shifting leopards to Schedule-II.”

Junnar MLA Sharad Sonawane reflected on the deaths in a leopard attack and said, “55 people have died so far,” and asked to increase the capacity of the leopard rescue centre in his constituency.