If all goes to plan, then in the coming months, for the first time a leopard from Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) will be fitted with a radio collar equipped with a video camera that will tell Mumbaikars how the big cat navigates urban landscapes. The collaring will be done by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as part of a project to study the impact of the Thane-Borivli underground tunnel that will pass beneath SGNP.

Senior scientist Dr Bilal Habib from WII told mid-day that the preconstruction survey along the alignment of the tunnel project has already started. “We have started the preconstruction ground survey in SGNP for the Thane-Borivli underground tunnel project. We have given certain suggestions to the agency implementing the project that should be followed while starting the construction work near the entry and exit points,” said Dr Habib.