Bahraich (UP), Oct 3 (PTI) A female leopard which reportedly attacked people in the recent past was caught by the forest department in the Sujauli range of Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, a forest official said on Thursday.
“The leopard was caught in a cage trap on Wednesday evening. It was brought to the Sujauli range office for a medical check-up. It is a female leopard aged about three to four years,” Lalit Verma, field director at Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, told PTI.
“The leopard has been found to be healthy and will be released in the Trans-Gerua forests of Katarnia soon.
“Another leopard was rescued on the night of September 29 which has been released in the forests across the Gerua river. Neither of the leopard is a man-eater,” he added.
The official emphasised that releasing the big cats in the Trans-Gerua forests reduces the chances of the animals crossing the river and venturing into the residential areas.
During monsoon, when the natural habitats of the animals get flooded, they tend to reach the sugarcane farming villages nearby, giving rise to human-animal conflicts, Verma said.
According to the official, with the monsoon now withdrawing, it is likely that these animals will head towards their natural habitats inside the forest.
“But the villagers need to remain alert till the sugarcane crop is harvested,” Verma said.
The villagers living near the forest areas are being constantly told that they should not sleep in the open and venture out of their homes only in groups.
Forest officials have also been instructed not to be negligent in patrolling, he official said.
On September 26, two people — Madhusudan (35) and Sahiba (13) — were attacked by leopards in the Dharmapur forest range and Ayodhya Purwa village in Sujauli range, respectively.
On September 29, a person named Kandhai (40) was killed in a leopard attack in Kakahara range, while on October 1, a leopard had attacked Rehmana (63) in Ayodhya Purwa village.
The attacks came at a time when thousands of people from 50 villages along the Ghaghra River floodplain in Bahraich district are living in fear of assault by wolves.
Since July 17, eight people, seven of them children, have been killed in wolf attacks, while nearly three dozen others have been injured.
The forest department claims that five out of six ‘man-eating’ wolves responsible for the attacks have been captured so far. PTI COR ABN ARI ABN ARI VN VN
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