Maharashtra MLA Sharad Sonawane appeared in a full leopard costume during the state’s winter legislative session, drawing national attention to the surge in leopard attacks, community fear, and what he calls a decade of government inaction.

An unusual and striking moment unfolded inside the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s winter session in Nagpur on 10 December 2025, when Junnar MLA Sharad Sonawane arrived dressed in a leopard-print coat, mask, and tail.

The visual disruption, although theatrical, carried a grave message. Sonawane claimed that human–wildlife conflict-particularly involving leopards-had escalated sharply in his constituency and across rural belts of the state, yet official responses had remained “tokenistic and painfully slow.”

Addressing the media outside the Assembly, Sonawane said he had been raising concerns about escalating leopard attacks “since 2014–15”, but the state government had not implemented substantial or sustained intervention.

With fear rising in communities living along forest edges, he insisted that the issue could no longer be brushed aside. “I am forced to come dressed like this,” he said, “because unless we make noise in the most unusual ways, our people continue to live in fear and policymakers continue to look away.”

According to the MLA, over 55 deaths had occurred in the past few months in parts of Pune district, Junnar region, and adjoining rural pockets.

His call for immediate action included demands for a statewide emergency declaration, construction of large-capacity leopard rescue centres in Junnar and Ahilyanagar, and more robust compensation and early-warning frameworks for vulnerable families.

On the floor of the House, Forest Minister Ganesh Naik responded by acknowledging the severity of the situation. Naik outlined steps currently taken by the Forest Department, such as intensified patrolling, expanded camera-trap surveillance, and proposals for AI-driven alert systems.

He also mentioned ongoing controversial measures, including releasing goats and sheep in forest zones to divert leopard movement away from human settlements. Naik assured the Assembly that “safety, scientific wildlife management, and community confidence” would remain priorities.

Rising Attacks Fuel Fear and Urgent Demands for Intervention

The latest flashpoint emerged just days earlier in Nagpur’s Pardi area, where a leopard wandered into residential lanes, injuring seven people before being tranquillised by forest officials.

Videos of residents fleeing through narrow by-lanes and officials struggling to corner the panicked animal circulated widely online, heightening public anxiety.

Locals from Junnar, Ambegaon, Sangamner, and neighbouring regions have repeated similar accounts: farmers avoiding early-morning field visits, children being escorted to school, and elderly residents refusing to step out after dusk. Community elders have said that they “sleep in groups” to avoid being attacked, illustrating the scale of daily fear.

Experts point to a combination of factors:

• Rapid urban expansion and encroachment into forest corridors
• Scarcity of prey in affected zones
• Infrastructure projects cutting through wildlife paths
• Increased leopard sightings near agriculture fields
• Greater visibility due to camera-trap and CCTV proliferation

According to conservation biologists, the conflict is a symptom of shrinking habitats, not an increase in “aggression” from the animals. Leopards are highly adaptive and often settle in semi-urban patches when their natural corridors are disrupted.

However, activists warn that community grievances cannot be dismissed under scientific explanations alone. “If people are losing family members or livestock weekly, they need immediate relief,” said a wildlife volunteer in Pune district. “Conservation cannot come at the cost of human survival.”

This tension-between preserving wildlife and protecting humans-has created an emotionally and politically charged debate across Maharashtra.

Background

Sonawane’s protest does not exist in isolation. Over the past decade, several high-profile attacks have shaken rural communities. In 2022, a series of leopard attacks in Nashik and Pune sparked widespread outrage. In 2023, a seven-year-old boy was killed in a village near Junnar, prompting temporary relocations of several leopards but no structural changes in policy.

Moreover, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park corridor, which overlaps suburbs of Mumbai, has long been documented for human–leopard interaction. While many incidents there are managed with community awareness and scientific monitoring, similar models have not been uniformly replicated across the state.

Experts argue that Maharashtra’s mitigation efforts have been scattered, often reactive rather than preventive. Key gaps include:

• Limited number of trained rapid-response teams
• Delayed compensation to affected families
• Insufficient long-term relocation or rescue facilities
• Lack of ecological planning when approving forest-adjacent developments
• Absence of a robust state-level coexistence framework

Sonawane’s call for a “thousand-capacity leopard centre” may be extreme, but it reflects what communities feel: that the state’s administrative machinery has not kept up with the crisis.

In response, the Forest Department insists that relocation of leopards must be carefully restricted; mass relocation, experts warn, may destabilise ecosystems and lead to more conflict. Still, many believe that a balanced approach-scientific, compassionate, and grounded in community realities-is overdue.

The Logical Indian’s Perspective

Sharad Sonawane’s protest may have been theatrical, but the anguish behind it is real. Families living along forest edges face a daily threat that urban centres rarely acknowledge. At the same time, leopards are not intruders-they are victims of disrupted habitats, shrinking ranges, and human expansion.

The path forward must be rooted in compassion, scientific rigour, and community participation. Maharashtra must develop a comprehensive coexistence model that enhances early-warning systems, ensures quicker compensation, improves habitat management, and strengthens community awareness without demonising wildlife.

Human–wildlife conflict will not disappear overnight, but India has repeatedly shown that coexistence is possible when people and policymakers work together.