A wounded,weak leopard strayed into the slums of Kandivli early Wednesday morning and injured two residents,a reminder of the intense man-animal conflicts of 2003-04 when leopard after leopard had wandered into residential areas of Borivli,Malad,Kandivli and up to Powai for want of food in the forests. Like the leopards that had killed more than 10 people five years ago,this one too was no longer able to hunt in its habitat,the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). It was captured after a two-hour operation. The leopard had entered Durga Nagar in Kandivli East around 6 am when people were on their way to work. SGNP Vet Dr Vinaya Jangale said that the leopard,a female,would be around three to four years of age and very weak. It has some old injuries on its back and is infected with maggots. A white layer of film over its right eye suggests its partially blind. The leopard keeps falling off on its left side and we suspect a slight paralysis too. Since the animal is still in trauma,we dont want to do a complete check-up immediately. We will keep her under observation for 24 hours, she said after the animal was tranquillised. Residents said the animal first appeared near a temple in the congested slum,packed with small alleys and concrete houses dotting all sides. It injured a woman on her way for morning ablutions. It then came in the main alley and started growling but did not attack anyone. A cow pushed the animal against her face, said local resident Jeetu Singh. Another resident,Ram Yadav,said the animal kept wandering and later rested beneath an auto-rickshaw. Then another man entered the alley and the leopard pounced on him. Policemen kept watch for fear that the leopard would attack more people. Forest officials later tranquillised it and took it back to the national park. SNGPs superintendent (lion and tiger safari) Deepak Sawant said,Sedating a wild leopard is a risky task. The vet managed to inject the animal with the first shot itself. Had the animal moved further into the city,it would have been difficult to capture it. Dr Jangale said the leopard may have faced hunting difficulties in the forest because of its injuries. Considering her weak health and the territorial nature of leopards,we dont think it will be possible for us to release the animal back into the wild again.
