India, Dec. 22 -- The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) on December 19 approved the relocation of 50 leopards from Maharashtra's Junnar forest division to a facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The approval applies exclusively to the leopards recently captured from human-wildlife conflict zones across the Junnar forest range. The relocation will be carried out in a phased manner, a senior forest official from Junnar said.

The decision comes amid a sharp rise in human-leopard conflict in the range, where six human fatalities have been reported since April this year. In response, the forest department launched a mass leopard capture drive, covering Junnar, Shirur, Ambegaon and Khed tehsils.

Over the past two months, the department has captured 120 le...