The Pune Forest Department is facing challenges in handling leopard sighting alerts as fabricated videos and images continue to circulate widely on social media platforms and housing society groups. According to officials, the department receives around 25 calls every day, many of which turn out to be based on manipulated or misleading visuals.
These fake sightings have created confusion among citizens and put additional pressure on forest rescue teams. Speaking on the challenges of the circulation of fake leopard videos on social media, Neha Panchamiya, Founder and President of RESQ Charitable Trust, highlighted that it is not just creating fear among citizens but also delaying the response time to rescue a leopard in genuine cases.
Panchamiya said, “Leopard-related incidents and sightings are going on right now. Some are genuine, some are just sightings, some are incidents. If you look at Junnar and those kinds of areas, if you look in and around Pune, mostly they are sightings. Two days back, we had a leopard in the city who seemed to have found a way out. Now, while one is dealing with all these situations, trying to respond appropriately based on the situation, the biggest challenge is that a lot of these AI-generated photos and videos end up misleading the team, and because every time something happens, we have to verify it and then give the appropriate response. And besides this challenge, I think the other thing it does is it spreads fear, which is one of the worst things. And then second, it delays response even though there is preparedness for response. So imagine if I get a picture, I have to send it to someone who I know will verify this properly and then respond. I am not saying that a big cat is not to be feared in that sense, but it unnecessarily spreads panic and fear. And then that leads to a lot of poor decisions being taken at a policy level.”
She also highlighted that currently, the Pune Forest Department and RESQ are verifying the genuineness of the fake videos and photos manually. “There are a few people in our team whose eyes are very well trained to understand the leopard’s natural habits. We are very used to seeing a lot of camera trap images or, you know, images in general. And we know by the way an animal is standing, its position, whether it’s fake or not. It takes that expert eye, based on which we identify whether it’s a fake or genuine case,” added Panchamiya.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Deputy Conservator of Forests Mahadev Mohite said, “For the past few days, we have been receiving many calls and fake photos and videos claiming there’s a leopard in their area. It’s not only creating fear in the minds of the people, but it’s also taking a lot of our time to identify and rescue the big cat.”
The Pune Forest officials also issued an advisory, which stated that every reported incident must be checked on priority, and the surge in false alerts has begun to affect the response time for genuine cases. Officers say the verification process becomes more complicated when visuals appear convincing, forcing teams to visit multiple locations unnecessarily.
In its recent advisory, the department appealed to residents to verify information before forwarding it. The advisory stated that misleading visuals not only spread fear but also delay real response efforts, as teams must confirm the authenticity of every alert before taking action.
Officials have stressed the importance of responsible behaviour, stating that accurate information from the public is essential to ensure timely rescue operations. They warned that repeated false alarms divert manpower and resources away from areas where help may actually be needed.
The Forest Department has urged citizens to avoid sharing unverified content and to report sightings only when they are sure about what they have seen.
