Mumbai: Did slain leopard swim across creek?

Updated On: 27 May, 2023 07:24 AM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav

Forest officials say big cat that was found dead on tracks in April may not only have crossed Ghodbunder Road but also swam across the creek separating SGNP from the Nagla jungle

Listen to this article :

C45 and his mother L27 at Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Pic/Nikit Surve/WCS-India/SGNP

The leopard from Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) that died on the railway tracks near Kaman, close to Vasai, on April 21, had ventured beyond Ghodbunder Road and swum across Vasai creek, which has been witnessed only twice earlier.

After its demise, researchers at SGNP discovered that the leopard was C45, a big cat that had been photographed by a camera trap near Vihar lake at the national park in January last year. According to forest department officials, the leopard may have not only crossed Ghodbunder Road, but also swum across the wide creek separating SGNP from the Nagla jungle.

C45 near Vihar lake in Sanjay Gandhi National Park on January 20, 2022. Pic/Nikit Surve/WCS-India/SGNP