Officials teach locals about safety measures. But, they say video could be fake; NGO WCAWA is assisting the Dahanu forest division in creating awareness among residents about safety measures and reporting protocols in case of a leopard sighting
NGO WCAWA is assisting the Dahanu forest division in informing residents of protocols in case of a leopard sighting
A video allegedly showing a leopard moving through the streets of Dahanu late at night has gone viral on social media, following which the Forest Department has initiated a search operation to verify the sighting. In the meantime, NGO WCAWA is assisting the Dahanu forest division in creating awareness among residents about safety measures and reporting protocols in case of a leopard sighting.
Honorary Wildlife Warden of Palghar district, Hardik Soni, said that CCTV footage purportedly showing a leopard moving through Dahanu gaon had gone viral across several social media and WhatsApp groups in the area. “Following this, our team, along with Forest Department officials, conducted awareness sessions for local residents and urged them to immediately inform the Forest Department or us if a leopard is sighted. We have observed that sightings in this area tend to increase every winter, as the nearest forest patch is only a few kilometres away,” Soni said.
Soni said that teams from WCAWA, along with Forest Department officials, will conduct night patrolling on Saturday along the mangrove belt to check for any leopard activity in the area.
A resident of Agwan village in Dahanu told Sunday mid-day that for over a week, several AI-generated images falsely claiming leopard sightings in the area have been circulating on social media groups, allegedly spread by miscreants.
“Over the past week, we have received multiple social media forwards showing AI-generated images of leopards supposedly spotted in our villages. On Wednesday, a video claiming to show a leopard roaming in the village also went viral. Following this, teams from the Forest Department and a wildlife NGO have begun verifying the footage based on the location. Meanwhile, awareness is being created among locals about the do’s and don’ts to follow if a leopard is actually sighted,” the villager said.
The CCTV video from the village shows few dogs running behind the leopard and this video is said to have been widely circulated on social media.
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