Leopard on prowl

Leopard on prowl
[ 9 Jan, 2007 2235hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


VADODARA: In yet another incident of man-animal conflict, a leopard attacked two persons on the outskirts of the Shinor village near here. It is suspected that the leopard may have been lurking in the area for quite some time, but attacked someone only on Monday morning.

The incident has raised concern amongst the forest officials as it comes within 24 hours of a leopard entering a house in the Amit Nagar locality in the Karelibag area of the city. The leopard was nabbed after an intense drama that lasted for around six hours.

Even before the forest officials took a breather, attack by a leopard on a resident of Shinor village early on Monday morning kept them on their toes. One Pravin Waghri was attacked by a leopard when he was passing by the Naramada canal on the outskirts of Shinor.

The second incident took place within a couple of hours when one Bhikha Waghri was attacked. Bhikha was attacked near his house when he went to meet his son who was grazing cattle nearby. A team of forest officials rushed to Shinor on hearing about the incident. Officials claimed that the animal was later spotted in some bushes near Shinor and had been cordoned off so that it did not escape. Three cages with baits had been kept in the area to capture the animal.

It is also believed that the leopard may be injured. A police party along with some villagers had tried to track the leopard. It attacked the group and one person from the group hit the leopard with a sickle. However, since no one saw the leopard after the incident, the seriousness of the injury is not known.

However, till late night the leopard did not come out of the bushes and the agonising wait for officers continued. "It can remain in hiding for hours without food. It will move out only if it is very hungry," said district forest officer Deepak Tipre, who was camping in Shinor.

Commenting on the repeated incidents of leopards straying into human settlements, Tipre said, "Such incidents take place if the leopards find it difficult to get food in the jungle. Also, if the population of leopards in a particular area increases, it can lead to territorial fights and the leopard that loses the fight has to leave the area. Such a leopard can stray into human settlements." Tipre said that the leopard may have come to Shinor from the forests of Dediapada or Rajpipla in the Narmada district. Its pugmarks were spotted along the bank of the Narmada River near Shinor.

Meanwhile, forest officials also spotted some pugmarks and remains of an animal like a dog in the Mayo Hospital, which is not very far from near Amit Nagar.

It is believed that the pugmarks were of the same leopard that had entered a home in Amit Nagar and was later trapped