On Friday, an adult leopard was spotted leisurely walking along an inner road in Aarey Colony, Unit 5, prompting concerns about the increasing encounters between humans and wildlife in the area. A motorist captured the wild animal on video and alerted the forest authorities.
The incident sparked online discussions about the encroachment of human settlements on animal habitats. One user commented, “He came to his home, which is encroached on by other animals called human beings.” Another user commented, “Colony toh hum ne banaye hai. Aarey was always a forest. Let it be one just that.”
This recent sighting comes after the discovery of a six-to-seven-month-old leopard cub’s carcass in Aarey Milk Colony in January. Leopard sightings in Aarey Milk Colony are becoming more frequent due to the overlapping territories of the leopards and the colony. The colony’s proximity to the southern boundary of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) facilitates wildlife movement between the two regions.
The increasing presence of wildlife in human-dominated areas raises important questions about the need for coexistence and finding ways to minimize human-wildlife conflict.
