In a metropolis where roads, housing colonies, and expanding settlements increasingly hem in wildlife, hunting may seem unlikely to persist. Yet inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), wild boars, deer, and hares continue to be hunted for their meat and hide, while forest officials struggle to monitor the park’s vast, difficult terrain.

The death of 60-year-old Vijay Sukharu Sapte, a civic worker from Mira Bhayandar who was allegedly mistaken for a wild boar and shot inside the park on October 20, has brought this little-seen problem into focus.

A preliminary forest department investigation found his body around 450 metres inside the forest. Officials also suspect that Sapte may have been part of the group of hunters involved in the shooting.

The incident is not an isolated one. In March this year, forest officials found that macaques were being shot with bows and arrows in Thane’s Upvan area. In 2019, carcasses of deer and leopards were found in separate incidents inside SGNP.…