Home away from home - Rescue centre mooted for captured leopards

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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070405/asp/guwahati/story_7606389.asp

 

Home away from home

- Rescue centre mooted for captured leopards

A STAFF REPORTER

 

April 4: Capturing leopards, which have strayed into human habitat, is

fine, but do we have enough facilities for their proper upkeep? The

zoo authorities, who have been pondering over this question for quite

some time now, have decided to set up a leopard rescue centre to solve

the problem.

 

" Nobody asks from where the leopards have come from. Everybody asks

where they will be kept and in what condition, " said Narayan Mahanta,

divisional forest officer of the state zoo.

 

Mahanta said though the rescued leopards have so far been kept in

enclosures in the zoo, the rise in their numbers has forced the

authorities to find a proper place for their upkeep.

 

" Some concrete steps have to be taken, otherwise the problem will

aggravate, " he added.

 

" There is no problem in finding space for the rescue centre. There is

a huge forest area where it can be set up, " Mahanta said. " The

proposed rescue centre will be in an off-exhibit area and will have

facilities to house at least 20 leopards, " he said.

 

Rampant destruction of their natural habitat has forced the leopards

in the forests to venture into the cities, leading to conflict with

human beings. An analysis done by the state zoo found that most of the

stray leopards were captured outside the protected areas and reserve

forests.

 

Three leopards were captured in 2004-05, five in 2005-06 and one in

2006-07.

 

Though the zoo gets several wild animals, which have strayed into

human habitat, leopards pose a greater problem as finding a proper

place to rehabilitate them is not easy.

 

Moreover, the officials are not sure of the number of leopards in the

city and have no strategy to tackle the problem.

 

" Rescuing the leopards poses another problem due to the

inaccessibility and encroachment on hills. This makes the job of

tracking them very difficult. The only way we can do this is to watch

out for their movements, " a forest official said.