At summer onset, Pune sees rise in leopard attacks; minor boy killed and 2 women injured in 3 days

A fatal leopard attack occurred on Friday (March 17) evening in the Dhuoli village of Khed taluka, located around 85 kilometres from Pune city. Ajay Chintamani Jathar, a Class 12 student at a local college in Khed taluka, had gone to a grassland near a forest area to graze his cattle with a friend. A leopard suddenly attacked Jathar on his neck. Jathar’s friend tried to rescue him by throwing rocks at the leopard, but the animal had inflicted fatal injuries by then.

In the Chandoli village of Ambegaon taluka on Saturday (March 18) evening, a leopard attacked Chhaya Rathod, a 30-year-old pregnant woman riding pillion on her husband’s two-wheeler. She was being treated at a hospital in Khed.

Deputy Conservator of Forest for Junnar Division, Amol Satpute said, “The incidents in Khed and Ambegaon are of completely different nature. The one in Khed where a boy was killed took place in a grassland known forest corridor for leopards. On the other hand, the incident in Ambegaon occurred very close to a sugarcane field, a known hiding place for leopards. While the onset of summer and sugarcane-cutting season does cause an increase in human-leopard conflicts, this year, we are observing a sudden spurt in a short period. We are analysing each case and putting in place all the possible measures.”

On Sunday (March 19), a group of sugarcane-cutting labourers encountered a leopard in Savindane in Shirur taluka, where a woman was injured. Forest officials said that the group of sugarcane stumbled upon three leopard cubs while cutting the yield. A grown leopard, possibly the cubs’ mother, charged towards the group in the next few minutes. As the group ran for safety, a woman sustained minor injuries in the leopard’s charge. Forest officials launched efforts to reunite the three cubs with the mother.

In the latest incident on Monday (March 20) morning, a leopard was sighted on a construction site in the New Ahire village located 10 km from Pune city. Authorities rescued it after a nearly three-hour search operation.

An official said after their efforts to guide the leopard into the forest cover near the New Ahire village with the least intervention failed, they tranquilised the animal using a dart. They took the leopard to a transit facility in Pune, where it underwent a medical examination and was in good health. The site where the leopard was spotted is located around five kilometres from the National Defence Academy (NDA).

The Khadakwasla area, where NDA is located, and the surrounding villages are situated in the foothills of the Sahyadri ranges of the Western Ghats. These areas are known habitats of leopards, forest officials said. In the past, NDA authorities had issued alerts for its staff and their family members following multiple sightings of leopards around its campus.

Officials said that among the key drivers of human-leopard encounters during the summer months are the changes that forest areas go through and the cutting of sugarcane.

Over the last two to three decades, one of the phenomena observed is an increase in the area coming under sugarcane cultivation. It has been observed that leopards, a very adaptive species, have started using these fields with thick sugarcane cover as a habitat. This provides a safe place for breeding too.

In the summer months, sugarcane cutting takes place and the movement of leopards to other areas or back to the forest results in human-leopard encounters during this period.

The summer months see an overall decrease in the foliage in the forests leading to depleting hiding places. Officials said the scarcity of water and prey base in the forest forces leopards to travel more to sustain themselves, which means increased encounters with humans.

DCF Amol Satpute said, “Forest department has taken concerted efforts towards creating awareness and sensitising villagers, with the help of NGOs. The people from villages in Junnar taluka have now adapted to the presence of the leopards in a transition from conflict to cohabitation with the leopards in the same space. We are also taking similar sensitisation efforts in Khed, Shirur and Ambegaon talukas, which are witnessing instances of human-leopard encounters.”