Summary:
It was sent to Wildlife SOS-run leopard rescue centre at Manikdoh.” PIMPRI CHINCHWAD : Villagers of Ahire, located on the campus of National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, continue to live in fear of the leopard after it was sighted four days ago.On Saturday, a male leopard cub died in a stampede at a cattle shed in Sangamner taluka of Ahmednagar district, while in another incident a leopard was caught in Junnar taluka.Yuvraj Wanjale, sarpanch of Ahire village, told TOI, “People are still afraid. Farmers and labourers return to their homes before sunset.”Mahesh Bhavsar, assistant conservator of forest, Pune division, said, “A three-member team of forest department employees visited the NDA campus on Monday and informed them about the precautionary measures to be taken to prevent leopard attacks. There has been no report of leopard sighting on Monday or attack on humans or domestic animals in Ahire village or other areas on the NDA campus.”About the leopard death, Shivaji Dange, round forest officer, Vadgaon pan, Sangamner range-2 said,“Around 8.30pm on Saturday, the leopard jumped from the branches of a nearby mango tree into a cattle shed, triggering panic among 25 to 30 cows that led to a stampede. The cattle shed belonged to farmer Suryabhan Umbarkar of Umbri-Belapur village in Ahmednagar district’s Sangamner taluka.”He said the commotion woke up Umbarkar and his family members who found the leopard lying unconscious inside the cattle shed surrounded by cows.They informed the forest department officials who, on inspection, found the one-and-a-half-year year old male leopard lying dead due to injuries on his head and mouth.A post-mortem was conducted at Nimbale nursery, after which the body of the animal was disposed of as per the rules.Bapu Yele, range forest officer(RFO), Junnar, said, “A two-year-old female leopard was trapped in a cage placed at the farm of one Balaji Auti in Rajuri village during the early hours of Saturday..