Leopards get radio collars to reduce human-leopard conflict
In a successful Public Private Partnership, the Forest Department collaborated with Wildlife SOS and WCS-India to radio collar leopards in Mumbai.
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Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mumbai has been the center of controversy due to the rising conflict with the elusive cats whose habitat is under a lot of biotic pressure due to the growing development needs of the city. ‘Kranti’ becomes the third leopard to be fitted with a radio collar in SGNP in the two-year project to study leopards & help mitigate human-leopard conflict in the heavily populated urban landscape of Mumbai.
In bid to mitigate human leopard conflict and further leopard conservation, the Maharashtra Forest Department permitted radio collaring of five leopards to study their movements, dispersal, home range size, habitat. This valuable data gathered over a period of time would help build effective strategies to mitigate conflict in the high density Mumbai area.
In this phase of the project the Leopard radio collaring was done by Forest Dept of Maharashtra in collaboration with Wildlife SOS and WCS-India successfully.
Wildlife SOS veterinarian Dr Bangar successfully tranquilised a six-year-old female leopard who roams the Yeoor hills range in Thane. A GPS radio collar was fitted on this leopard by a team of WCS-India and Wildlife SOS. WCS-India team included Dr Vidya Athreya & Nikit Surve. Wildlife SOS has been collaborating with Maharashtra Forest Dept for over a decade to run the Leopard Rescue Center in Junnar.
Wildlife SOS provided technical & veterinary expertise during the procedure. The entire operation was done under the guidance and supervision of the Maharashtra Forest Department.
SGNP is a 100 sq km urban forest reserve and home to over 40 resident leopards, making it a high leopard-density area. Residents living in proximity to SGNP have had close encounters with these elusive big cats. In a city like Mumbai, leopards have had to adapt to the changing landscape and growing biotic pressure in order to survive amidst the bustling human population. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed an action plan for human-leopard conflict mitigation.
G Mallikarjuna, Conservator of Forest & Director, SGNP, said: “We’re expecting good data on human leopard interaction through this collared animal. Two more leopards will be radio collared in the coming days. This leopard was named Kranti as she was collared on Makar Sankranti and Kranti in Marathi also means revolution as she will enable us to better understand urban leopards.”
Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder & CEO of Wildlife SOS, said: “Wildlife SOS is grateful to the Maharashtra Forest Department for the opportunity to be involved in this project. We’re delighted to collaborate with WCS-India & Forest Dept while providing technical and veterinary support for this leopard radio collaring effort. Such successful Public Private Partnerships will help further the cause of wildlife conservation and protection efforts. We’ve been collaborating with Maharashtra Forest Dept for over a decade to run the Leopard Rescue Center in Junnar which houses over 30 rescued leopards”
Vidya Athreya, WCS India Director, said: “WCS India and Wildlife SOS have a long history of working together in leopard research and conservation. The quality of research and conservation is enhanced through such collaborations.”
Wildlife SOS veterinarian Dr. Bangar who tranquilised the leopards said: “A calibrated dose of sedatives was used to tranquilise the female leopard. I kept a constant check on her vitals, heart rate, pulse etc during the entire radio collaring procedure. She was released back in the forest once she recovered fully.”
