In a first of its kind project initiated in Mumbai, officials of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), forest department teamed up with a group of wildlife biologists on Saturday to radio-collar a female leopard and released it back in the wild. This has finally flagged off the much delayed two-year project under which five leopards will be radio-collared for getting a much better and detailed understanding of movements of leopards and how they use the landscape in and around SGNP.
The radio-collared leopard whose age is estimated to be around 3 years has been named Savitri. “The belt around Aarey, Film city and SGNP is her territory. We have decided to name this three year old leopard as Savitri on the legendary Indian social reformer and educationist from Maharashtra- Savitribai Phule. We are hoping that this Savitri will also enlighten and educate us and show us a way ahead in terms of knowledge about the leopards in Mumbai,” said G Mallikarjuna, Chief Conservator of Forests, SGNP.
Wildlife biologist Dr Vidya Athreya, from Wildlife Conversation Society (WCS)- India, who is leading this collaborative project with SGNP said that leopards are extremely secretive animals, which is the reason why very little is known about them and till date the Forest Department in Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Forest Division have regularly been monitoring the leopards using camera traps.
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