Junnar MLA Sonawane wears leopard costume to draw attention to growing problem

Nagpur, Dec 10 (PTI) To highlight the issue of growing leopard menace across Maharashtra, Junnar MLA Sharad Sonawane on Wednesday came to the legislature premises here donning a leopard costume.

The Shiv Sena MLA's novel gesture came on a day when seven people were injured in a leopard attack in Pardi area of Nagpur city itself. The animal was captured by the forest department following the incident in the morning.

Speaking to reporters at Vidhan Bhavan, Sonawane, a Shiv Sena legislator, claimed that 55 people have died in leopard attacks in Junnar taluka of Pune district in the last three months.

People in the area are living in fear, he said, demanding that the government should build rescue centres which can accommodate up to 2,000 leopards in Junnar taluka and Ahilyanagar district.

As to the government's plan to release goats in forests to provide prey for leopards, about which Forest Minister Ganesh Naik had spoken in the House on Tuesday, the MLA said it would be of no use as leopards increasingly live in sugarcane fields and near human settlements.

The government should declare a "state emergency" and capture at least 2,000 leopards and put them in rescue centres, Sonawane said. PTI CLS KRK