NASHIK: After seven hours of hard work, the forest department was able to rescue the leopard that was roaming in the area of Jai Bhavani Road. The leopard was rescued with the help of forest employees, volunteers of Eco Echo Foundation, police personnel and locals. Citizens in the area breathed a sigh of relief after the leopard was trapped.
This morning at around 6 o’clock, a leopard appeared in the garden behind the bungalow of Shiv Sena party worker Rajendra Gaikwad at Jai Bhavani Road. After seeing the leopard in this place, the women alerted everyone in the area. The leopard entered Fernandes Wadi. He then entered the house of Sunil Bahanwal. Seeing the leopard, the Behanwal family rushed out and the leopard ran away.
Leopard hid under a car in the yard of a bungalow near KJ Mehta High School. As soon as leopard saw the forest department staff and citizens, the leopard came out and entered into another adjoining bungalow. Meanwhile, the leopard attacked an individual named Kshatriya and was injured in the attack. As a result, police personnel and forest department personnel had to struggle hard to catch the leopard.
The leopard was running around making the rescue team sweat. Due to crowd of citizens after this incident, it was difficult for the police and forest department staff to act fast. The leopard was also seemed frightened as crowd was shouting and wooing. Meanwhile, after the incident, forest department personnel, police personnels and locals speed up the rescue operation.
The leopard was injected with anesthetic with help of dart gun and was trapped by throwing nets from all sides. A huge crowd had gathered to see the leopard as it was being trapped. Citizens thanked the staff with a round of applause after the leopard was rescued.
“We got call at 6:30 a.m. At 7:00 a.m., our team reached the spot and started searching for the leopard. Around 10:30 we located the leopard with help of available information and CCTV footage. Due to crowd the leopard was running around and it became difficult for us to rescue. It is an adult Male leopard. Around 1:00 p.m., we gave the anesthetic with help of dart gun and rescued the leopard.” -Vivek Bhadane, Range Forest Officer, Nashik
Act responsible
“The rescue was smoothly handled with combined efforts of rescue team, Forest Department and Police department. We also got local support. The citizens should act responsibly in such incidents. Nashikites should avoid crowding and let the authorities do their job properly. People were gathering with kids to take glimpse of leopard; it should be avoided. We can take such updates with help of media as well as social media platforms.” -Abhijeet Mahale, Eco Echo Foundation
Crowd poses a threat to rescue operations
On Monday, an adult male leopard entered into residential area of Jai Bhavani Road. As soon the information spread, Nashikites leaving their homes and works gathered to get glimpse of the leopard. Crowding delayed the rescue operation but as the leopard was in safe place with wall compound the rescue operation went smoothly.
Nashikites seems haven’t learnt anything from past experience. A few years back, in a similar situation, a leopard cub died in Panchavati as the crowd chased it and hampered the rescue operation. In 2018, a leopard entered into Sawarkar Nagar area. With shouting and wooing of Nashikites the leopard went confused and injured three persons in an attempt to escape. In lockdown in 2020, a similar rescue operation was conducted in Narsimhanagar of Gangapur Road. Again, because of the crowd a forest official got injured.
On Monday too, the crowd shouting noises created hurdle in rescue operation. The rescue operation was stretched for long seven hours, tiring the rescue team, police personnel and forest officials. Nashikites need to learn that leopard has chosen Nashik as it’s safe habitat. Similar instances are likely in future too. Instead of crowding people should act responsibly and stay indoor and cooperate with the authorities.
