What can be termed as a model worth replicating, the Junnar Forest Department along with NGO Wildlife SoS has successfully reunited 43 leopard cubs and five rusty-spotted cubs with their mothers in the last four years.

The scrub forests of Maharashtra provide a suitable habitat for wild cats such as leopards and rusty-spotted cats. However, a growing population, expanding farmlands and depleting forests have pushed the margins of human habitations closer to the existing forest areas. This has led to a parallel existence of wild animals in close proximity to the villages and a manifold increase in man-animal conflicts in the area.