Leopard captured in camera trap

Dadri, April 27, 2015: On April 14, 2015, the National Thermal Power Corporation in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, contacted the WTI team through the local Forest Department and informed them about a leopard in their power plant premises.

The team members visited the area and inspected large parts of the campus. Spread over 25 acres, a large part of the eastern boundary of the campus constitutes of very thick scrub jungles interspersed with woodland and swampy grassland patches. This area has been voluntarily created by the corporation to develop green stretches across its ash dumped sites.

The vegetation has over the years fostered the growth of several wildlife species as was ascertained through secondary signs such as hoof marks, scat, et al. Consequently, it was felt that the area had the potential in terms of habitat and natural prey assemblage to support more than just one leopard. It would be easy to say that leopards would have been living in this area for a number of years. The Human Resource officials of NTPC were then advised by the team to instruct workers of the plant to take certain basic precautions and that no harm would befall on them due to the presence of the leopard.

As a standard protocol, however, the team installed four camera traps at various locations to ascertain the various prey species and leopards that reside in this area. On April 26, 2015, the camera traps were checked and re-deployed at different locations again. The first set of deployment revealed that the area supported at least four different prey species for leopards (nilgai, blackbuck, wild pig and porcupine), although several evidences of blacked naped hare and hog deer were also encountered on trail surveys. The camera traps also, captured four pictures of leopards (two left flanks and two right flanks), suggestive of two different individuals, although more pictures are needed to confirm this.

Leopard caught in the camera trap

The team is preparing for a small awareness workshop for its various personnel and workers to help them understand the precautions one can take to avoid mishaps, and that the presence of a leopard in their vicinity is not always a threat to life and property.

“We will continue to monitor the area to collect more evidences on how many leopards inhabit the area. We are also requesting the NTPC team to just take precautionary measures,” said Mayukh Chatterjee, Assistant Manager, Conflict Mitigation.