Narela still tense as officials fail to trace leopard

New Delhi: The forest department, along with wildlife NGOs, continued its patrolling and tracking of the leopard on Thursday, which was sighted near the Narela Air Force Base on Monday. The big cat was spotted near Kendriya Vidyalaya School in the Narela Air Force base in the city on Monday night, leaving residents fearful of their safety. 

It was captured on camera by patrol officers at the secured premises. A survey team of the department and Wildlife SOS NGO carried out a field survey of the area where the animal was spotted. While the Air Force authorities have requested to translocate the leopard, the forest officials said it's not a feasible solution since its current habitat is densely forested and is its natural habitat. "We are continuing with the patrolling and will plan for the next step once we have a confirmed sighting of the leopard. We have requested Wildlife SOS for their assistance and veterinary expertise in carrying out this operation," said Bharati Dasan, Wildlife Inspector Delhi Forest Department. Wasim Akram, Special Projects Manager, Wildlife SOS, said, "Our teams are checking the area and we are yet to find confirmed pugmarks or tracks to confirm the presence of the leopard.

Installing a radio collar on the leopard and tracking its movements would help us map out the leopard's range, movements and the expanse of its territory to plan mitigation efforts." The big cat is believed to be a resident of the forest area, which is its natural habitat.

The leopard experts have confirmed that a territorial cat like the leopard must not be translocated as they are known to return to their original habitat even if it's 300 km away. The Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) is a Schedule I species, protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and is listed as 'Vulnerable' under the IUCN Red Data List. A night patrol squad has also been set up but no confirmed sightings of the leopard have been recorded yet.