After suspending the operation to capture leopard C32, suspected of attacking nine people at Aarey Milk Colony in the last two months, the Thane forest division (territorial) will once again seek permission to trap or sedate the big cat. The earlier permission by the principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF)-wildlife lapsed on October 31. Despite setting up seven cages, officials had not succeeded in trapping the leopard.

Top forest officials from Thane, the field director of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and a team of volunteers met on Monday afternoon to work out a plan to capture C32. “Since the permission to trap the suspected leopard got over, we will again approach the office of the PCCF- Wildlife in Nagpur and request them to renew the permission,” said a forest official.