After a tiring search operation to locate a leopard in a crowded locality of Nashik city in Maharashtra, wildlife rescuers identified its location through CCTV footage of a residential apartment. But the bigger challenge was to reach the spot without pushing through and attracting thousands of onlookers gathered on the streets.
“The rescuers decided to divert the crowd by hurriedly announcing that the leopard was found at another spot,” recollected Abhijeet Mahale, one of the rescuers. “After the crowd ran, the team swiftly went in, tranquilised the leopard, and transported it to safety.”
But manipulating and controlling a crowd is not easy. Last month, a young stray Indian bison met its end on Pune city’s streets due to stress and exhaustion after a 10-hour rescue effort that was severely hampered by a large crowd.
Earlier, in November 2020, alarmed at the presence of thousands of curious onlookers in Tezpur town’s outskirts in the Eastern Himalayan…