Injured leopard spotted at IIT Bombay campus, forest department plans rescue

Illustrations/Uday Mohite

An injured leopard has been sighted on the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) campus over the past two to three months, prompting the forest department to step up monitoring and initiate plans to safely capture and treat the animal.

The leopard, which is suspected to have an eye injury, was first identified through CCTV footage shared by the IIT-B administration with the forest department. Officials installed five camera traps across the sprawling campus, which spans approximately 550 acres, to track its movements and determine the animal's condition.

CCTV footage showed a leopard with a suspected eye injury walking on the IIT Bombay campus for the past two to three months. Illustrations/Uday Mohite

A forest department official said the situation was being monitored. "Over the last two to three months, there have been sightings of a leopard with an eye injury on the IIT-B campus. The institute's administration informed us about the sightings and also shared CCTV footage of the leopard. Based on this information, we installed camera traps across the campus to track the animal's movements.

[popcorn number="5" desc="No of camera traps installed to track leopard" class="Default"]

However, the leopard has not been captured on our camera traps in recent days. Our camera-trapping exercise is still underway," the official said. Sources said camera traps installed on campus have captured images of leopards, but the animal with the suspected eye injury has not been photographed so far.

Permission for rescue op

The forest department has installed five camera traps across the campus to track the leopard's movements. Other leopards were captured on camera, but not the injured animal

The forest department official told mid-day that the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) had been informed about the injured leopard. The department is in the process of obtaining the necessary permissions to safely capture the animal and provide it with treatment. Meanwhile, the Thane forest department (territorial) team has been patrolling the campus to monitor leopard activity.

Creating on campus awareness

The department is seeking permission to capture and treat the leopard; teams continue patrolling the campus and conducting awareness drives

The forest department has conducted awareness programmes for students and other residents living on the campus. They have been briefed on the dos and don'ts to follow in case they spot a leopard, including maintaining a safe distance and immediately informing the authorities. Falguni Banerjee Naha, spokesperson of IIT-B, said that the institute's administrators had informed the forest department about the sighting of big cat.

The entrance to the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay campus in Powai. FILE PIC

Voices

Advocate Pawan Sharma, honorary wildlife warden of Mumbai and president of NGO RAWW
‘We have been regularly in contact with the management of IIT-B to ensure that there are no negative interactions leading to conflicts. The students, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, residents, and security have all been specifically addressed from time to time. Rescue teams from Mumbai Territorial and Sanjay Gandhi National Park have been regularly visiting the campus and constantly monitoring the area'

A person staying on the campus
‘Awareness sessions have been conducted for residents and students living close to the forest patch, urging them to immediately inform the authorities in case of a leopard sighting and to avoid provoking or disturbing the wild animal'