[Sivacar]

Received this on my Whats App today, a leopard has strayed inside MBIL plant in Chakkan.

Operations are on hold.

I have also received a small video in whats app, but unable to upload, showing error as invalid file.

Can someone guide how to upload it.

Requesting the moderators to merge it with any other suitable existing thread.

[Dhillon]

When I read the thread heading, I thought some Bhpian with handle "Stray Leopard" visited MBIL Chakan plant.

[anjan_c2007]

It's a part of the regular man versus animal confrontation of the times. The overall forest cover is denuding and conservation measures for such faunal species initiated by the government and NGO's are bearing some fruits. Such a scenario paints a grim picture of the dwindling natural habitat in the wild for these carnivorous species vis a vis the marginal proliferation in their population.

Tadoba in Chandrapur dist has been witnessing regular intrusions of tigers and leopards in the villages around Chandrapur town including the Ordnance Factory precincts there. There have been regular human killings by these beasts. We have seen numerous leopard intrusions in the settlements around the Borivli National Park, Mumbai and the tragic killings there till the recent years.

In a lighter vein, the leopard must have done a thorough survey of all automobile plants around Pune. It could have justifiably concluded that the three pointed star makers, manufacture the most premium cars in the region. And so, why not have a look at how the car is built?

[Sivacar]

It has been tranquilized and captured

[gischethans]

Instead of simply writing a leopard was captured and released into the wild, the official Twitter account posted a nice one -

[Latheesh]

Imagine if it was a Jaguar - "Spy Jaguar caught inside Mercedes plant checking out their latest designs"

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Imagine if it was a Jaguar - "Spy Jaguar caught inside Mercedes plant checking out their latest designs"

Missed opportunity. Imbecile cat I say. It should've worn the Jaguar outfit that day to rake in the social network karma!

[BLACNWYTE]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Imagine if it was a Jaguar - "Spy Jaguar caught inside Mercedes plant checking out their latest designs"

Missed the opportunity. I came here just to say this

Although I remember in my college days I had gone to Tadoba with friends and just managed to see one or two tigers the entire safari.

[Rodo_Faita]

Remembered this funny Jaguar vs Mercedes advertisement.

Jaguar's reply was good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLCKIm8sC2s

[vivek95]

Have passed through this Mercedes plant in Pune as well as the VW plant nearby, can't remember seeing any sort of open land or a hill or a small jungle kind of area around this, or for that matter, the entire Chakan--Talegaon area which houses thousands of big industries. This region is always buzzing with high activity of industries, heavy trucks and large number of people all day and night. How on earth and from where did this leopard find its way into Mercedes plant ?? Am I missing something here ??

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Have passed through this Mercedes plant in Pune as well as the VW plant nearby, can't remember seeing any sort of open land or a hill or a small jungle kind of area around this, or for that matter, the entire Chakan--Talegaon area which houses thousands of big industries. This region is always buzzing with high activity of industries, heavy trucks and large number of people all day and night. How on earth and from where did this leopard find its way into Mercedes plant ?? Am I missing something here ??

Leopards travel great distances, more than 130 kms in one documentary I saw about them, this is around the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. If you zoom out on the map you will see a forest area to the North West, that's not much for a leopard to traverse.

Leopards have adapted to the urban environment better than most predators, they usually avoid people and noise. The prey that attracts them are stray dogs, they are apex predators, so we are fair game.

[bhargav2015]

The point being missed is that these areas used to be home and territory of a number of different species of BIG Cats. As forests shrink and man keeps continuously venturing into the wild, clearing it of vegetation and building structures incapable of housing and sheltering other life forms, these "conflicts" are bound to happen. I wish these companies came together and adopted the forests around, prevented its encroachment and committed to preserving it. At the moment it is just wishful thinking on my part. We value life, howsoever little, only when it comes to human life but don't give two hoots about other life forms we share and co-inhabit this planet with.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by vivek95

This region is always buzzing with high activity of industries, heavy trucks and large number of people all day and night. How on earth and from where did this leopard find its way into Mercedes plant ?? Am I missing something here ??

Leopards often hangout in semi-urban areas when they can prey on dogs. Here in Manipal, leopard sightings over the years is very regular. My staff have seen Leopards while riding home at night.

I just located 4 different leopard stories from Manipal:

https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.c.../42921016.cms?

https://www.deccanherald.com/leopard...al-720907.html

https://www.daijiworld.com/news/news...?newsID=747949

https://www.daijiworld.com/news/news...?newsID=900639

[bhargav2015]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

... so we are fair game.

Please compare the number of humans killed over the last 2 decades by Leopards and leopards by humans and you will find the directionality of devastation.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Have passed through this Mercedes plant in Pune as well as the VW plant nearby, can't remember seeing any sort of open land or a hill or a small jungle kind of area around this, or for that matter, the entire Chakan--Talegaon area which houses thousands of big industries. This region is always buzzing with high activity of industries, heavy trucks and large number of people all day and night. How on earth and from where did this leopard find its way into Mercedes plant ?? Am I missing something here ??

Just north of Chakan/Rajgurunagar towards Manchar is a patch of "no mans" land, with a short ghat section and patchy forest. About 20-25 years ago, this used to look distinctly uninhabited, and with thicker vegetation. So I am not surprised the the leopard is resident in the vicinity. It was always their territory. Looking at these man-animal conflicts of the recent years, I now get the feeling that forests must be left to themselves and that all human settlements must be removed along the edges. I think there is a need NOT to bring cement/concrete (roads/telecom etc) into fringe areas but to rather bring humans into a planned urban environment. This way, forests must be the exclusive preserve of wild animals.