NASHIK: A leopard was injured after being hit by a yet-to-be identified vehicle near Chitegaon Phata on the Nashik-Aurangabad state highway on Thursday night.
The leopard was unable to walk due to injuries, but it crossed the road and reached the nearby farm on the state highway. A team of forest officials reached the spot after they received information and rescued the big cat.
The animal has been sent for treatment to the rescue centre in Junnar in Pune district.
The incident occurred around 9pm on Thursday at a place between Chitegaon Phata and Chandori, when the leopard was trying to cross the road and was hit by the vehicle.
Forest officials said the leopard stayed on the road for a while after being hit. But as people started crowding, the leopard crossed the road and reached a farm near the state highway.
“The leopard was unable to walk, as it was badly injured. We started the rescue operations and trapped the animal in a cage there. We have sent the animal to the rescue centre in Junnar for the further treatment of the animal,”a forest official said.
There have been several incidents of leopards being injured or killed in accidents on the state and national highways passing through the district.
Leopards getting hit by vehicles on highways has become a cause for concern across the state. An internal report of the Junnar forest division has reported 70 deaths of leopards due to drowning in wells and road accidents as against 65 due to natural causes from 2018 till November 1 this year.
The forest division is spread over Junnar, Ambegaon, Shirur and Khed tehsils. Maharashtra has the highest number of leopards in this division. Man-animal conflicts have become a cause for concern in the division.
The Pune-Nashik, Kalyan-Mumbai and Pune-Ahmednagar highways pass through the Junnar forest division. Instances of leopards meeting with fatal accidents while crossing the highways, particularly during the sugar cane cutting season, have been quite frequent.
The maximum number of leopards in Junnar division are in the sugar cane fields. The movement of leopards is high during the cane-cutting season. While moving to newer locations, the leopards often come onto the highways which results in accidents.
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