Thane forest dept needs trained vets

While the leopard that ventured into a preschool in Andheri East on Sunday was rescued successfully by the same evening, the incident has exposed the lack of trained wildlife veterinarians that plagues the Thane forest department.

While the leopard entered the preschool’s premises around 7 am, the rescue was completed only around 6.30 pm — after a eopard rescue team from SGNP led by Shailesh Deore, Superintendent Lion and Tiger Safari and Dr Shailesh Pethe, Veterinary Officer, SGNP, reached the site. The reason for the delay was that the Thane territorial team does not have a trained wildlife veterinarian to tranquillise and carry out a rescue operation, thus they had to wait for the SGNP team that was returning from Chalisgaon after being called in for another leopard rescue operation.

“What would have happened if the SGNP rescue team was still stuck in Chalisgaon or the leopard escaped from the area which is far from a forest? This incident highlights the pressing need for Thane territorial forest department to strengthen its rescue team as the cases of human-animal conflicts have been increasing in its area and it is evident that the SGNP team cannot do everything single-handedly,” said a wildlife activist.

Pawan Sharma, …read more