A newspaper vendor delivering papers at Green View building in Bimbisar Nagar quickly turned into the hottest news of the day for the residents after he spotted a leopard making an early morning visit to the society yesterday
A newspaper vendor delivering papers at Green View building in Bimbisar Nagar quickly turned into the hottest news of the day for the residents after he spotted a leopard making an early morning visit to the society yesterday.
A newspaper vendor spotted the leopard around 6.30 am at the Green View building, running towards the wall close to the forested patch in Aarey Colony
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The building is adjacent to the SRPF Camp in Goregaon East, and shares a boundary with Mahananda Dairy and Aarey Milk Colony - home to a sizeable leopard population. It is suspected that the leopard may have gone to the building to prey on stray dogs living there.
Came for stray dogs
A resident said, “The leopard was spotted in the building around 6.30 am. The local newspaper vendor saw it entering the building and running towards the wall close to the forested patch of Aarey. We checked our CCTV footage and saw the leopard. There are chances that it might have come to the building because of the stray dogs in the area.” A watchman from another building told this paper that around 10 days ago, he too had seen a leopard running behind stray dogs late in the night.
“Around 10 days ago, I was on night duty when I heard the dogs barking in fear. I saw something run behind the dogs; I think it was a leopard. Since that night, I have become more alert and make sure that I stay inside the security cabin at night,” said the guard.
Following the leopard sighting, society members have asked residents to take precautions and call the forest department’s (FD) control room if they spot a leopard.
Refrain from panicking
They also called the FD and informed them about the sighting. Range Forest Officer of Mumbai Range Santosh Kank instructed his team to visit the area at night and interact with locals.
Deputy Conservator of Forest Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar said, “We have been informed about the leopard sighting and our patrolling team will visit the area and interact with residents. We would like to appeal to people to refrain from panicking. They should take precautions to prevent any man-animal conflict.”
Wildlife volunteers Imran Udat and Satish Lot also visited the spot and interacted with the locals and explained the dos and don’ts in case of further encounters with the big cat.
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