Bagheera returns

The authorities at the Pench Tiger Reserve are ecstatic with this news as the return of Mowgli’s Bagheera will likely increase tourism. Wildlife photographer Sarosh Lodhi in an interview with Mid-Day said that sightings of a melanistic leopard in Pench, Madhya Pradesh is good news. Lodhi is known for clicking wild species, “I am sure this will help in increasing tourism in the park. People who were travelling to Kabini in Karnataka to spot melanistic leopards will now have the option of coming to Pench. To the best of my knowledge, there have not been any photographic records of melanistic leopards from this landscape. Whatever people have heard or read about the Bagheera of Pench is from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. The sighting of this cat in the buffer zone of Pench also clears the myth that one can spot black leopards only in the forests of the western ghats or in dense jungles. There have always been rumours of the presence of black leopards around parks but no concrete evidence.”