Centre clears leopard sterilisation plan in Maharashtra; project to start in Pune district
Pune (PTI): Amid growing concerns over leopard sightings and attacks on humans, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has given nod to a Maharashtra government proposal seeking birth control of leopards in the state, officials said on Monday.
According to the forest department officials, approval to carry out sterilisation-based leopard population management programme has been granted on an experimental basis and the project will start in Pune's Junnar forest division.
"A proposal of the sterilisation-based population management programme was submitted to the Centre for 125 leopardesses last year. We have now got the approval to carry out the first-ever sterilisation-based leopard population management programme on an experimental basis on five leopardesses," said a senior forest department official.
A team of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) researchers, who have extensively monitored behaviour, population trends and conflict incidents involving the big cats in the Junnar forest division, had earlier suggested launching a controlled sterilisation initiative to curb the surge in leopard numbers, he stated.
"Following a detailed review of the proposal and comprehensive discussions with WII scientists, the ministry (MoEFCC) granted its approval. Their scientific evaluation was instrumental in finalising the plan for Junnar," the official noted.
Explaining the procedure of sterilisation, he said that immuno-contraception technique will be adopted for managing leopard population growth.
"Leopardesses will be captured and immuno-contraceptive will be injected to make them infertile," the official explained.
In over a month, three people have lost their lives in leopard attacks in Pune district's Shirur tehsil, which comes under the Junnar forest division. The spate of leopard attacks has sparked anger among people who recently torched a vehicle belonging to the forest department.
A "man-eater" leopard was killed by sharpshooters in Shirur tehsil in the first week of November.
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RCB beat MI by 18 runs after batters fire
Mumbai (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli blasted half-centuries as the defending champions beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
Salt (78 off 36 balls) and Kohli (50 off 38 balls) stitched together a 120-run stand for the opening wicket before Patidar scored a rapid 53 off just 20 balls as RCB posted 240 for 4.
In response, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 222 for 5, with RCB spinner Suyash Sharma (2/47) putting the skids on the home side with a double strike in the eighth over, from which they could not recover.
Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for MI with an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls.
While opener Rohit Sharma appeared to be struggling with a hamstring issue and had to retire hurt on 19, his partner Ryan Rickelton made 37, while Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Hardik Pandya (40) were the other contributors for MI.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 35 not out).
Mumbai Indians: 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 71 not out, Ryan Rickelton 37, Hardik Pandya 40; Suyash Sharma 2/47).
