Mumbai: Biker hits leopard at Aarey Colony, search on for injured cat

Volunteer Wasim Athaniya shows the accident spot in Aarey

A leopard was injured after being hit by a biker on Wednesday night in Aarey Colony, but disappeared into the bushes after that. The incident was witnessed by a youngster on the bus coming from the other side. The Forest Department has not been able to locate the wild cat so far.

The leopard that was killed near Shahpur

In another incident, a male leopard was killed after being hit by a speeding vehicle on the Mumbai Nasik highway near Shahpur in the wee hours of Thursday Range Forest Officer from Shahapur Territorial Range, Prakash Chaudhari, said, "On Thursday, around 5 am, we received a call informing us that a leopard had been run over by a speeding vehicle near Atgaon in Shahpur. Our team reached the spot and found the body of the male leopard at the side of the road. A speeding vehicle might have hit the leopard and run over it while it was trying to cross the road. It must have died on the spot as the injuries were grievous."

Chaudhari also told mid-day that while patrolling at night, he saw a huge leopard close to the accident spot during the lockdown and as such there are chances of there being a wildlife crossing point. "During the lockdown, I had spotted a huge leopard close to the accident spot and last month a nilgai had also died while crossing the road nearby. I appeal motorists using the busy Mumbai Nasik highway to drive slowly while crossing a forest patch," Chaudhari said.

The incident in Aarey
On Wednesday, around 8.30 pm, a biker hit a leopard that was crossing the main Aarey road and fell down. The incident took place near a forest patch near Aarey hospital. According to a resident, the biker was going towards Marol from the Goregaon side. Sultan Deepa Sharma, 18, who works at a private company in Andheri East was travelling on a bus to Malad, when he witnessed the incident.

"I was travelling home from work in Andheri East. While the bus was on the main road in Aarey, I saw the leopard crossing the road and the biker coming from the Western Express Highway hitting him. The bike passed over the leopard and the biker fell down. The full-grown leopard, which appeared to be injured, growled once and vanished into the bushes, limping," Sharma said. Seeing the biker fall down, Sharma got down from the bus to help him.

"The biker had injured his knees and was bleeding. A Good Samaritan passing by in his car stopped to help us. He gave first aid to the biker and I asked him to go home. Then I informed Aarey police of the incident. They contacted the forest department," Sharma said.

Forest Department volunteer Imran Udat, Satish Lot, Wasim Athaniya along with Forest Department officials reached the spot of the accident and searched the area till late at night but could not locate the leopard. Searches were conducted in the morning, too.

Three
No. of volunteers who joined forest officials in the search for the leopard in Aarey