A leopard was trapped by forest department authorities early on Monday morning at Maroshi Pada, where the animal had killed a tribal woman on November 2. This trapping comes two days after another leopard attacked a two-year-old child at Bhandup.
“At around 5 am, an adult leopard walked into the trap laid near Maroshi pada, off Powai, and later in the day, we handed over the animal to Sanjay Gandhi National Park officials,” confirmed a forest official.
For the last few weeks, the forest department had been receiving repeated complaints from the tribals as they have been spotting it on a regular basis. “Apart from the leopard killing 50-year-old Sita Pange, there have been cases of it attacking stray dogs too,” added the forest official.
On Saturday night, another leopard had killed a child living in the slums of Bhandup’s Tembhipada, which is on the periphery of the SGNP. The victim, Usha Yadav went to answer nature’s call at around 11 pm.
The mother of the deceased was at a distance, when she entered the bushes. At that moment, the leopard attacked her and took her inside the forests. Thereafter, locals launched a search operation and found parts of her body inside the forest.
Till date there have been four incidents of leopards attacking humans in the last.
On July 15, seven-year-old Sanjana Thorat from a slum colony in Mulund and on November 2, Sita Nevsha Pange from Moroshi Pada near Powai were killed while they have ventured into the forest to answer nature’s call. On November 5, an unidentified body of a man was found inside the SGNP.
According to forest officials and experts, toilets are urgently needed at these slum colonies as all such incidents have occurred when the victim has ventured into the forest to answer nature’s call.