When leopard 'inspected' Mercedes Benz production unit at Chakan near Pune

By Rosamma Thomas*
A male leopard was found roaming the manufacturing unit of Mercedes Benz at Chakan, about 30 km from Pune in Maharashtra, on Monday morning. The Benz production facility is spread over 100 acres, and the cat was found by staff in the manufacturing unit.

Security staff at the facility contacted the state forest department, which in turn roped in staff from Wildlife SOS, an NGO that has earlier offered assistance to the state government in rescuing wildlife straying into sugarcane fields or human habitations.
The Wildlife SOS team from the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Junnar near Pune rushed to the site. Two vets, Dr Nikhil Bangar and Dr Shubham Patil, were part of the four-member team from the NGO that helped locate the leopard and secure the area around it. The leopard was tranquilized from a safe distance and handed to the state forest department.

Kartick Satyanarayan, who founded NGO Wildlife SOS in 1998 to rescue wild animals in distress, said that with the loss of their habitats, leopards are being forced to venture into areas with human habitation. This particular leopard was estimated to be about three years old, and appeared healthy. Yogesh Mahajan, range forest officer, Chakan, said the animal was being kept under observation and would soon be released into the wild.
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*Freelance journalist based in Kerala

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