Leopard captured in Mumbai's Aarey Colony; 2nd feline to be caught in 5 days

After the incident on Monday, the forest department had put up three cages at strategic locations in and around the site to capture the animal, the official said.

The forest department caught a male leopard from Aarey Colony in Mumbai early Sunday morning, the second feline to be captured in the last five days, an official said.

The leopard walked into a cage trap set up in unit 15 of the Aarey Colony, a green belt in Mumbai's western suburb of Goregaon and located close to the sprawling Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), he said.

It was later taken to a rescue centre at the SGNP, the official said. Earlier, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl was attacked and killed by a leopard in a forested area in unit number 15 of the Aarey Colony on Monday morning when the child followed her mother who was on way to a temple nearby.

On Wednesday, a male leopard was captured in Aarey's unit number 17 and was also taken to the rescue centre in the SGNP, the official said.

Forest officials suspect it is the same animal that killed the girl, he said. After the incident on Monday, the forest department had put up three cages at strategic locations in and around the site to capture the animal, the official said. Forest officials will continue to monitor the movements of other leopards through 30 camera traps and a cage put up in the area, he said.

Nearly 30 wildlife volunteers, members of NGOs, forest department officials and staff of the SNGP are working together to deal with the incidents of human-animal conflict in the area, he added.

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