Thread by @TelegraphWorld

🐆In Mumbai, residents live in fear of a silent predator...

Leopard attacks are on the rise, and locals are demanding action.

@joerwallen examines India's growing problem with animal-human conflict 🧵 👇

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

➡️There have been eight attacks in Mumbai's northwestern suburbs over the past month alone, sparking a debate on the future of the city's historic leopard population…

A 2018 Indian government report found there are only 12,852 of the cats left nationwide, a reduction of 90 percent since the 1990s, due to poaching and habitat destruction.

An Indian leopard in its natural habitat, Getty Images

In Mumbai 50 leopards currently live in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) which dissects the north of the city

The park comes right up against high-rise blocks.

📸Subhash Sharma for The Daily Telegraph

🔴Although they are walled in, the leopards are expert climbers and are often spotted in the densely-populated surrounding neighbourhoods looking for food...

Usually leopards attack Mumbai’s stray dogs, but some are known to attack humans

Four year old Ayush Yadav was pounced on outside his home - he was lucky to survive.

🔴The authorities in Mumbai have blamed the attacks this month on one leopard and called for calm

📱But the animal in question is still at large and social media is fuelling panic...

It is clear the leopards' future greatly divides opinion and a fatal attack or planned citizens' protests could ramp up the tension further...

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

“Now, most nights, I see the eyes of the leopard from outside my house. They shine like batteries in the dark, always on the lookout”

Tai Soma Shinwar, local resident

📸Reuters/Punit Paranjpe

Read @joerwallen’s full report here 👇

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…