Red tape prolongs rescued big cat's stay in captivity at SGNP

MUMBAI: Wildlife activists are outraged that three weeks after forest officials rescued a leopard from Uran, the big cat medically certified as "fit" is still kept in captivity at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).
They state that Alibaug wildlife division officials have been waiting for the mandatory sanctions from higher authorities to release the leopard, that was captured after several hours of drama.
"After a leopard is captured from human habitation, the primary aim of the forest department should be to ensure that it is healthy and release it back in the wild as soon as possible. In this case, although over 15 days have passed by, the leopard is still caged at the park," said Krishna Tiwari, project officer of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
Sources said that the Alibaug forest division did not have space to keep the leopard and hence it was brought to the Borivli national park to be kept for a couple of days. In fact, sources even ascertained that the leopard was healthy and could be released in the wild. Incidentally, as per the guidelines of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), if a captured leopard has been kept in captivity for more than a month, it should not be released back in the wild.
However, forest officials from the Alibaug division stated that they have planned to release the leopard in Phansad wildlife sanctuary in a "day or two". "As per the guidelines, we have still not missed the date as yet. Although the norms stipulate that a leopard can be kept for a month, we have found out from experts that it can even be kept for two months," said Anwar Ahmed, divisional forest officer of the Alibaug division.He added, "We were waiting for a sanction from the higher authorities to release the animal back in the wild. We also wanted to conduct medical examinations and ascertain if the leopard was a man-eater."
However, soon after the capture of the leopard on May 11, Alibaug division forest officials had stated that the leopard was not a man-eater and had attacked in defence and only when people tried to chase it.
"Does it take more than 15 days to ascertain if the leopard is fit to be released? Also, how is it possible for the forest department to ascertain if a leopard kept in a cage is is a man-eater?" questioned Tiwari, who has been studying the leopards of Mumbai for over five years now, adding, "Keeping fit leopards under unnecessary captivity is just pointless and this is a clear instance of red-tapism."