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Leopard makes 17th kill in U.P’s Bijnor again, caged
The leopard made its first kill in the district on January 17 this year, and since then, the animals has killed 17 people including 8 children
After a lull of 34 days, the maneater leopard made its 17th kill - a 12-year-old boy, Jigar – in Khatriwala village of Badhapur area of district Bijnor, on Wednesday night.
The forest department, however, claimed caging the leopard on Friday morning and said that it is being sent to Kanpur zoo.
The half-eaten body of the boy, Jigar, a student of Class 6, was spotted some 300 meters from his house. Expressing anger, villagers accused forest officials of failing to control leopard attacks on humans in the area.
Divisional forest officer, Bijnor, Arun Kumar Singh, said that the house of the boy was located next to a sugarcane field. “The leopard may have been waiting to attack in the sugarcane field and dragged the child into the jungle after he may have woken up in the night to relieve himself,” Singh said.
Even family members had no clue about the incident who started searching for the boy on Thursday morning and spotted his mutilated and half eaten body 300 meters from their house,” said Singh.
A cage along with cameras were put up in the vicinity and a team of forest officials tracked the pug marks of the animal. Singh said that the suspect leopard was found trapped in the cage on Friday morning, and it is being sent to Kanpur Zoo.
Jigar was the 17th kill of the leopard in the district in the last 10 months of the year. The leopard made its first kill in the district on January 17 this year, and since then, the animals has killed 17 people including 8 children.
Meanwhile, the state’s wildlife department declared two leopards maneaters after examining evidence collected from the field and ordered for their killing.
Local residents, however, believe that there might be more maneater leopards which keep on attacking people and children and their frequent attacks has led to an atmosphere of fear.
