UP to get first exclusive leopard safari park in Pilibhit

PILIBHIT: The forest and wildlife division in Pilibhit has initiated steps to set up Uttar Pradesh's first exclusive leopard safari park over a 2,000-hectare forest stretch at Gopalpur under the Puranpur tehsil circle.The proposed site is located around 4 km from the Deuria forest range of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. A preliminary proposal for the project, with an estimated outlay of Rs 48 crore, was submitted on Saturday by divisional forest officer (DFO) Bharat Kumar DK to the state's principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Anuradha Vemuri.The plan includes an advanced wildlife hospital equipped with the latest diagnostic medical equipment and a sophisticated operation theatre, along with a nature interpretation centre, a safari vehicle parking yard, and a reception and ticket booking centre.To prevent illegal intrusion, especially by poachers and wildlife criminals, the park will be enclosed with double-layered, 12-foot-high chain-link fencing, with a solar fence at the base and an electric fence on top.Unlike the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, where safaris and ecotourism activities are suspended between July and Oct every year, the leopard safari park will offer year-round safari facilities. It will also feature a 40-km-long tourism circuit covering scenic locations such as the 22-km-long Sharda Sagar dam, the bifurcation point of the Sharda river's feeder canals, the syphon aqueduct, and the origin point of the river Gomti."The leopard safari park will play a key role in rehabilitating stray leopards rescued from rural and urban areas, tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and forest divisions across the state, reducing the current practice of shifting them to zoos, where they spend their lives confined to small enclosures," the DFO said.Gopalpur forest, dominated by sal trees, has rich biodiversity and an abundant prey base for leopards. Apart from carnivores, it is home to spotted deer, barking deer, hog deer, sambar deer, hundreds of bird species, and small herbivores."The park will be equipped with artificial caves, well-designed stay cottages, photography points, a souvenir shop, and a café, besides modern washrooms. The nature interpretation centre will feature a 40-seat mini theatre, a leopard ecology gallery, a conflict awareness zone, and biodiversity exhibits," the DFO said, adding that solar lights would be installed at key locations, while the entire park would remain under round-the-clock CCTV surveillance, monitored by forest personnel from watchtowers.