Navi Mumbai: A post on X by state forest minister Ganesh Naik saying some captured leopards will be shifted to the Vantara wildlife centre in Jamnagar has raised the hackles of wildlife activists.Sources in the forest department said 67 captured leopards will be translocated to various other places, including 50 to Vantara, to reduce human-animal conflict in Maharashtra.
Activists were critical of the decision, saying it would result in adjustment problems for the animals.“The latest tweet of Ganesh Naik has indicated that several leopards will be shifted out. This is wrong since this predatory cat species needs to thrive in its own forest habitats. Sending them to a smaller zoo or wildlife centre is not really a healthy solution,” said NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar.A Beed-based wildlife activist, Nitin Alkute, said: “For over three months, I have been fighting to release 21 captured leopards who are kept in small cages in Ahilyanagar district. One leopard has died. The forest department was reluctant to release them back in their territories, which is cruel.”The activists stated that human-animal conflicts are caused only because humans are further encroaching into forests, leading to smaller spaces for wild animals like leopards.Environmentalist D Stalin of Vanashakti NGO, said: “Besides the human-animal conflict issue, I feel that so many leopards are being shifted out in order to freely allow mining inside forests, since leopards are the natural protectors of their forests. Earlier, there was a bizarre plan to sterilise leopards.”
