Amreli: The forest department has nabbed one female leopard from the outskirts of a village in Bagasara taluka in Amreli district of Gujarat where 3 people have recently been killed and one injured in attacks by man-eater leopard.

CCF Junagadh D T Vasavada today said that the female leopard aged around 5 to 7 years was found trapped in a cage kept on the outskirts of Kagdadi village which was close to the presently leopard affected areas.

He said that the ongoing operation to nab such beasts in the area would continue and in the meantime scat test (testing the stool/poop of a the beast for finding any human flesh or other remains in it to ensure whether it had eaten human flesh or not) of the nabbed leopard would be conducted. Its pug mark would also be matched with the ones found in the area where attacks on human had taken place and also from the ones found near the dead bodies of those killed in the attack to ensure whether or not it is the beast responsible for attacks,’ he said.

Notably, Fifteen to 20 teams of police and forest department had started an extensive operation in areas around Bagasara town in Amreli district from December 7 evening to trap one or more supposedly man-eater leopard/leopards which killed at least 3 people in less than two months with two of them being mauled to death within last 3 days.

The latest such killing took place in new Janjariya village around 2 km from Bagasara town late Saturday night when a farm labourer from Rajasthan, Chaganbhai (40) was mauled by a leopard while he was sleeping in an agriculture farm. Earlier another such deaths in areas around Bagasara were reported on December 5 and October 25. A 45 year old woman was attacked and injured in Lundhiya village on December 8.

In Amreli district more than half a dozen such killings have reportedly taken place in last few months while in the areas around Gir forests, 17 people have been killed and 66 injured in attacks by leopards in last one year or so.

Amid rising demands of killing such beasts who were attacking people in non-forest areas, the forest department and police have made 15 to 20 teams for the operation to nab the beasts and it is carried out in the night with the help of night vision cameras, CCTV and drone fitted cameras.

DeshGujarat