We'll do our bit on leopard threat, says a member of Whitefield Rising

Bengaluru: Alarmed by the spotting of leopards in the area, people of Whitefield have decided to do their bit to promote knowledge of man-animal conflict and ways to deal with it.

A local group, Whitefield Rising, will organise a workshop by wildlife experts on Sunday for its members and people willing to act as volunteers during such sightings and join in creating awareness in the neighbourhood.

Said Mr Elan Kulandaivelu, a member of Whitefield Rising, who has taken the initiative, “The workshop's focus is on co-existence with animals, actions that should be taken during such sightings, and what preventive steps can be taken as well. We want volunteers who are willing to go to the spot when forest officials are not available or have not yet arrived. Depending on how many volunteers we get, we will scale up the initiative.”

Another member of the group, Pravir Bagrodia, says while the forest department has already said it will conduct workshops in schools in Whitefield, ordinary people too need to help in creating more awareness so that there is no bursting of crackers and so on during operations to catch straying wild animals.

Mr Pradip Thaker, also of Whitefield Rising, who has had experience in dealing with wildlife as a hobby for over two decades in various national parks both in the country and abroad, stresses that the basic rule in an encounter with a wild cat is to give it space to escape.

“A cornered cat will attack. In rare situations, leopards do turn maneaters, like when they are too old to hunt wild prey, or are infected with rabies. Fortunately, so far there has been no indication that any of the leopards spotted are maneaters. If that was the case, more stringent measures would be required ,” he said, also suggesting that there should be more round the clock security in the area for at least a month to deal with the threat from the wild cats.