Leopard disaster tag for villages in Junnar

Pune: District collector Suhas Diwase on Thursday declared 233 “highly sensitive” villages of Junnar as potential leopard disaster prone areas considering incidents of human injuries and deaths in the past five years in the forest division.
The declaration of these villages, which lie in the Junnar, Ambegaon, Shirur, Khed talukas of the region, as potential leopard disaster prone have been done so under Section (30) (2) (iii) and (iv) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Altogether 37 villages in Junnar taluka, 36 in Otur, 72 in Shirur, 22 in Manchar, 27 in Ghodegaon, 28 in Chakan and 21 in Khed fall under potential leopard disaster prone areas.
Seven people were killed and three injured in leopard attacks since March 2024. While from April 2023 to March 2024, three people were killed and ten injured in leopard attacks.
Owing to the increase in loss of lives, the Junnar division of the forest department had previously sent a proposal to declare Junnar as a ‘leopard disaster’ zone.
TOI has been highlighting the increase in human-leopard conflict in Junnar over the past year. Rudra Phapale (8) was killed when a leopard dragged him into a sugar cane field in Kalwadi village on May 8. Within a few days, Nanabai Kadale (45) was killed by a leopard in Otur.
“Long-term horticultural crops, such as sugar cane, banana, grapes, pomegranate are grown in abundance in this area due to availability of water. These perennial crops provide good shelter and abundant water availability for leopards to hide. Also, agriculture has led to an increase in farm dwellers with domesticated animals. Because of this, domesticated animals are easily available as food, and the habitat of leopards has been created in such horticultural areas. There has been an increase in human-leopard conflict since the last 23 years,” said Diwase, who is also the district disaster management authority chairman, in a statement.
The total number of leopards in Junnar, Ambegaon, Khed and Shirur talukas is likely to be approximately 400 to 450, said a statement issued by Diwase. A total of 40 serious injuries and 16 deaths have occurred in the past 5 years in the Junnar forest division due to attacks by leopards.
“There has been an increase in incidence of leopard attacks on humans in this area, which has become a disaster zone of human-leopard conflict. The area has been declared a potential leopard disaster prone area in view of the extent of injuries and deaths due to leopard attacks,” said Diwase in a statement.
The Junnar division had sought 100 trap cages and dedicated rescue vehicles from the disaster management cell of the district. The division had also submitted a proposal on May 10 to the district collector for declaration of Junnar as a disaster zone. “This will help by allowing for the commission of grants to deploy resources on field to manage conflict situations. We will have to do the on-ground work, however, we will receive the trap cages, grants for deploying manpower for leopard management,” said deputy conservator of forest Amol Satpute.