Male big cat, also known as Korya, had been released in SGNP in 2019; officials say leopards often visit the spot due to its proximity to the park
Pictures of Korya, who got the unofficial name after its capture from Korum mall in Thane, have gone viral on social media. Pics/Marathi Actor Siddharth Chandekar
Days after pictures and videos of a leopard in Dindoshi went viral, forest officials have identified the big cat as L-86. The leopard is also known as Korya among researchers and forest staff since it was rescued from Thane’s Korum mall in February 2019.
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Korya, now 8 years old, had been released in the core area of Sanjay Gandhi National Park after being fitted with a chip.
Chief Conservator of Forest and SGNP Field Director G Mallikarjun said, “The leopard that is being frequently spotted in Dindoshi is a male L-86 from our data bank and our team of researchers has got its images many times through camera traps in SGNP. This specific individual roams around a huge portion of the park.”
Officials said the leopard is regularly seen in the south-west part of SGNP and camera traps also spotted it a couple of times at Aarey Milk Colony in 2020.
For the past five to six days, pictures of the leopard walking on a wall behind a housing society adjacent to SGNP have made waves on WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook. While a few of them were shared by Marathi actor Siddharth Chandekar, who lives in a building near SGNP, on his Facebook page, few others filmed the big cat with a dog in its mouth.
The visuals prompted SGNP and forest officials to visit the location and install camera traps to monitor the leopard’s movement. They also told the locals not to panic as leopards often visit the area due to its proximity to the park.
Mumbai has one of the highest densities of leopards anywhere in the world. Studies done by biologists Dr Vidya Athreya and Nikit Surve from NGO Wildlife Conservation Society-India have shown that there is an ample amount of wild prey base in SGNP but leopards venture into human habitats to target stray dogs that are much easier to kill.
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No. of leopards in SGNP
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