City wildlife

In the concrete jungle of Mumbai now there is a new animal – leopard!

Actually it is not a new animal to the city. The mangrove forests surrounding the costal area near the city is their habitat. And people encroached too much into this sanctuary. Earlier it was a rare news when a leopard is spotted by someone. Now it looks like it is a regular affair including the attack.

The main problem is people made hutments inside the banned area and also dumped garbage at the periphery of this sanctuary. The garbage attracted dogs in large numbers. Leopards started coming out of the forest & hunt the dogs. Dogs are an easy catch for a leopard in contrast to the wild boar or the deer, its traditional prey. Also people started going inside the forest area for picnic and the like. It looks like none- both the people as well as leopards- are bothered about respecting the habitat law.

Now all the city TV shows/ newspapers are stomach full with leopard related stories.

We had this alligator panic near the Powai Lake area for some time.

And folks, when you come out of the airport just watch out for a stray leopard too

They caught a Leopard in Mumbai the other week. It was shown on Star News.

In Mumbai one should be more careful of the two legged animals disguised as humans!

A leopard is pretty docile in comparison!!

The forests are not mangrove. Are not on the coast. There ARE mangroves on the coast, but this 'ere ain't them.

The leopards are the original residents of a 2000 yr-old (at least, cud be more) tropical deciduous forest typical of the region. The most luxuriant forests of these type are near Londa near Goa and neighboring N. Karnaataka.

The famous Kanheri Caves complex which (said to) housed a Buddhist University around 4 BCE are part of this forest. Some of the earlier caves date back to maybe 150 BCE. They lie on an original trade route going to the port of Naalaa Sopara (N. Mumbai ..... port trading with W. Asia & Greece) and were used as a night halt by the caravans. This is the ONLY virgin forest INSIDE a megapolis on the entire planet. (104 square km of original forest)

It was named Krishnagiri National Park (Kanheri is the corrupt pronunciation of Krishnagiri ..... is what the scholars say) and then for obvious political reasons, was named Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the early eighties.

The forest is home to very many species of flora and fauna. Tigers roamed here till around 1925. They could be coming back, it seems. A tigress and two cubs were sighted in the Naaglaa Block (South of Tungaareshwar) in 2003 (August??). I personally know a Doctor who faced a tiger in 1962 when he reached the top of a rock-climb in Tungaareshwar. (he is alive !). The World's largest, the Atlas Moth; is seen here ..... more frequently nowadays.

Some of us (trekkers & wildlife enthu's) conduct an "Adventure Course" for children every year in the forest for eight days in the Christmas hols. since 1980. We were the fortunate few who got permission to do the course right in the middle of the forest every year. However, in 2003, the Park Rangers told us to do it on the periphery cuz of the increasing leopard attacks. There were warnings aplenty, the Govt. knows it for sure, but cannot remove the slums which have encroached on Forest Land ...... cuz they are a "vote bank" and cannot be displeased in an election year.

Till then, we Mumbai folks better get used to the leopards ..... but your unlikely to spot 'em on the runway as your landing. If you don't mind a few mozzies this is a very gooood time to visit the forest. Its GREEN. ALL the rivers are in full flow & All the waterfalls are splashing deliriously !!

Wow leopards, the only large carnivourous wildlife i see in england is the odd fox and badger!!!

14 people killed this year to date, 10 in past month. Unlikely to affect tourists, but certainly interesting nonetheless.

here's a link to the story:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle...4&section=news

In many north american cities, coyotes have lost their fear of man and are coming close to urban areas -- often seen on golf courses. Closer to home for me, on mainly forested Vancouver Island cougars (aka mountain lions) often come close to towns and villages carrying off dogs, cats and have even been known to attack children -- an occasional one is found in suburban Victoria treed by a dog; if healthy, an attempt will be made to re-locate it. Bears and wolves also live fairly close to habitation on the island as well -- you can often see or hear them when camping in the woods.