In yet another incident of man-animal conflict, a 16-year-old boy was attacked by a leopard at unit number 13 in Aarey colony on Friday night. He has been taken to a BMC-run hospital after sustaining injuries to his neck.
This is the 7th attack in the past 45 days. The Thane Forest Department (territorial) SGNP team has been patrolling the area round the clock.
Forest Department sources said there are chances that a leopardess is behind the attacks. At present there are 4 cages to trap it.
On October 1 a female leopard was trapped in unit number 3 in the cage set up by the Forest Department. The rosette pattern on the leopard matched the pattern of the suspected leopard and it was found that one trapped was its sibling and not responsible for the attacks. However, it is still being kept in a cage at SGNP.
R K Shiva, a resident of unit 13 said, “A 16-year-old boy called Darshan was going to the public toilet at around 9.30pm when the leopard attacked him. He was injured on the neck following which he was rushed to a BMC-run hospital for treatment. We informed forest officials.”
Intermediate Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sunil Limaye said, “We have information about the unfortunate attack on the boy, and the Thane Forest Department and SGNP team have been instructed to take the best possible measures to trap the animal.”
Surjitt Sahani
