Mumbai: Metro 3 shed site in Aarey home to five leopards

Amid the debates over the presence of wildlife at the Metro line3 car depot site at Aarey Milk Colony the findings of a camera trapping study undertaken at the site have brought forward some surprising facts The study carried out between November 2021 and June 2022 has found a total of five leopards using the car depot site Apart from leopards jungle cats mongoose and monitor lizards were also spotted in the camera traps highlighting the presence of wildlife in the areaAlso read In rare sighting two leopards caught sitting on a tree in AareyKishori a female leopard and her cub spotted in one of the three camera trapsThe findings come at a time when the new government with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fandnavis at the helm decided to construct the car shed in the Aarey Milk Colony landThe previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Uddhav Thackeray who is known to be a wildlife lover had decided to move out the car depot from this land and also declared 812 acre area in Aarey as forest The decision was welcomed by many wildlife and nature loversAnother leopard spotted at the car shed site PicsMaharashtra Forest DepartmentWith the present governmentrsquos decision nature lovers have once again started their protest while infrastructure lovers are of the opinion that the car depot should be constructed in Aarey Colony to avoid further delay and cost escalation of the muchawaited projectThe studySources from the forest department told midday that the camera trapping study was initiated at the Metro3 car depot site after former environment minister Aaditya Thackeray instructed the Thane Forest Department to document the wildlife using the car depot site so that better conservation strategies can be plannedThe Metro line3 car depot site marked in yellow PicMMRCLA forest officer requesting anonymity said ldquoCamera trapping was undertaken at the car depot site from November 2021 to June 2022 to study the movement dispersal and activities of wildlife including leopards to help mitigate humanleopard conflict incidents According to the report submitted by the team of volunteers which carried out the study a total of five different individual leopards were found to be using the car depot site Apart from leopards jungle cats mongoose and monitor lizards were also captured in the camera trapsrdquoThe five leopards spotted at the car shed site PicsMaharashtra Forest DepartmentAs per forest department sources three cameras were installed inside the car depot site Of the five individual leopards spotted during the course of the study two are adult males one is an adult female one is a cub and one is a subadult The leopards were identified on the basis of rosette patterns on their body The report also stated that the leopards were not just found during the night but also during dayIt is interesting to note that while the three adults matched the forest departmentrsquos database and were identified as L90 L105 both adult males and L123 adult female the cub and subadult did not match existing data This may mean that they may be new individuals In fact the female leopard was spotted with its cubSeveral other species including jungle cats are present at the site as per the studyRich biodiversityAarey Milk Colony is spread across 316232 acres of land on the southern border of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and was established in 1949 According to NGO Empower Foundation Aarey forest is home to around 290 species of wildlife consisting 16 species of mammals such as leopards sambar deer barking deer spotted deer civet cat rusty spotted cat wild boar jackal langurs monkeys 76 species of birds 38 species of reptiles like python cobra Russell viper krait 13 species of amphibians 27 species of insects 86 species of butterflies and 34 species of wild flowers Among these leopard sambar deer rusty spotted cat alexandrine parakeet redwattled lapwing are in IUCNs red list of nearthreatened or vulnerable speciesTwo mongooses photographed by the cameras290Approx no of species present in Aarey forestNov 2021Jun 2022Period Aarey camera trapping study was conducted