Narmada: A team of 60 rescues leopard 12 days after attacks on woman, child

Indian Express

2 days ago

It took a team of 60, comprising forest officers and volunteers, several hours of gruelling search and a nearly 12-day combing operation to rescue a wild leopard that is believed to be behind two back-to-back attacks on humans in Sagbara taluka of Narmada district. The said attacks include a fatal one involving a nine-year-old.
On Saturday night, forest officials managed to tranquilise the animal after two near-miss hits earlier during the week, after trapping it inside a net in a sugarcane field in Beda Pani village of Sagbara taluka. Forest officials believe that the wild leopard, a four-year-old adult male, had lived in the sugarcane field for a brief period owing to easy access to prey in nearby villages.
Range Forest Officer (RFO) Sagbara Abhay Singh told this newspaper, 'We managed to rescue the leopard after tranquilising it on Saturday night in a sugarcane field in Beda Pani village, which is within a three kilometre periphery of Kolvan, where the nine-year-old had been dragged and killed by the leopard. Our analysis, so far, based on the pug marks and other indications, says that the same leopard has been involved in both the attacks.'
It was in Beda Pani that a 40-year-old woman was attacked in her sleep with the big cat biting off a part of her ear.
Singh said that the forest department teams, comprising experts from Banaskantha, Devgadh Baria and Chhota Udepur, camped in the periphery of the two villages where the forest department had also set up multiple trap cages for over a week, but did not find succeed.
Singh said, 'We waited for weeks to see if the leopard walked into the cage but he did not… Therefore, four days ago, we began combing the sugarcane fields as we had analysed the movement and concluded that it was hiding in the fields. We used our tractors and JCBs to comb the fields, causing the leopard to move. On two occasions, the tranquilisation teams also hit successful darts but the leopard managed to escape. On Saturday, it was cornered in a spot where we were able to trap it in a net and then tranquilise it.'
Singh added that the leopard has now been taken to the Forest Rescue Centre in Timbi village of Rajpipla in the district while directions will be sought from the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) of Gujarat to decide the further action.
Singh said, 'We will submit the report to the CWW as per protocol. The CWW will decide if the leopard should be released in a core forest area with a prey base or be sent to a centre earmarked for leopards involved in human conflict resulting in death. Since this leopard has been involved in at least two human attacks within a week, we will await appropriate directions…'
Meanwhile, the forest officials will continue night patrolling in the villages in Sagbara to ascertain if more big cats have been moving in the revenue area. Singh said that with villagers having shifted to growing sugarcane in the area, leopards have made their way into the revenue areas in search of prey.
'The villagers in this area have transitioned to growing sugarcane in the last few years… It has given the big cats a reasonable place to hide and attempt to prey on domestic animals and hens in the villages. Leopards are good at adapting and therefore, they can survive well in revenue areas outside the forest area too.'