Leopard may be kept at Delhi zoo before relocation

NEW DELHI : Once captured, the leopard that was spotted in Narela Air Force base earlier this week, would be kept in the Delhi zoo before it could be relocated, forest officials said on Friday.

“We are yet to decide where the leopard could be relocated after it is captured. But till such time, it would be kept in the zoo where it has to go health checkups before being released in the wild,” said a senior forest official.

Guidelines issued by the union forest ministry in April 2011 for managing human-leopard conflict state that it is best to avoid translocation as such a leopard trying to navigate to its home territory through a dense human landscape may lead to increased incidences of conflicts. The guideline also says that the animal should be kept in a transit facility with minimum exposure to humans if the animal is to be released back in the wild.

“I don’t think that the animal would be put up for display. Zoos have facilities in their backyards where captured wild animals are usually kept for checkups before it can be released again. This is a common practice,” said Vidya Athreya, an ecologist working on human-leopard conflicts. How- ever, she added that it was better not to translocate the animal.

The forest department has already placed a cage with bait near a water body in the wooded area, hoping that the animal would see it when it comes for a drink. “We, however, didn’t find any pug marks neither on the banks of the pond nor around the cage. There were no traces of scat either. We are planning to set up another cage in a day or two in a different location,” said Tarun Johri, conservator of forests of the state forest department.

The leopard was spotted by patrol officers near the Kendriya Vidyalaya School inside the air force station on Monday night. But since then patrol teams have not spotted it. “As the ground has dried up, the teams have not found any pug marks,” said an official. Senior forest officials held a meeting with the air force station authorities on Friday.

“The air force wants the leopard to be relocated. Hence we are trying to set up another cage,” said a forest official.

A team of forest officials and experts from Wildlife SOS – a NGO working on rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife in distress across India – have been scouring the area over the past two days. A night patrol squad has also been set up.