First leopard to walk into cage set to be radio-collared before its release

Female leopard C33 was the first one to get caught in the cage traps set up in Aarey Milk Colony

If everything goes as planned, the Maharashtra Forest Department in the next couple of days will radio-collar female leopard C33 and release it back into the wild. C33, aged around two years, was the first to get trapped in the cage set up to capture the problem leopard at Aarey Milk Colony.

"Senior scientist Bilal Habib from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will be providing the radio collar and the team of Dr Vidya Athreya from Wildlife Conservation Society-India, which had already radio-collared two leopards in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), will be monitoring leopard C33 post collaring," said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF)-Wildlife Sunil Limaye.

C33 is the sibling of C32, which is behind the recent spate of attacks. C33 is currently lodged in a cage at SGNP

It should be noted that the female leopard C33 is the sibling of leopard C32, which is responsible for the recent human-animal conflicts in Aarey Milk Colony in which nine people were injured in the past two months. Sources from the forest department told mid-day that the radio collar will soon reach Mumbai from Junnar in Ahmednagar district where Dr Habib has radio-collared a few leopards known to use sugarcane fields.

"The plan is to radio-collar the leopard and release it in its natural habitat. Researchers will not just monitor its movement using the radio collar but camera traps will also be installed surrounding the area where it will be released," said Limaye. On October 1, C33 was captured at Aarey Milk Colony, following which it has been kept in a cage at SGNP.

1 Oct
Day when C33 was captured