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Leopard that killed 4-year-old boy in Junnar caught
A four-year-old boy died in a leopard attack on October 9. The leopard attacked the boy when he was playing near his house close to a sugarcane field.
The Junnar forest department, assisted by the Wildlife SOS team, has captured a female leopard from Alegaon village, within 48 hours of a four-year-old child being killed by a big cat, officials said on Wednesday.
After catching the leopard, allegedly involved in the child attack incident, it has now been sent to the Animal Rescue Centre in Manikdoh, Junnar tehsil.
A four-year-old boy died in a leopard attack on October 9. The leopard attacked the boy when he was playing near his house close to a sugarcane field. It was the first of this kind of incident in the Alegaon village said the forest officials.
Vaibhav Kakde, range forest officer of the Junnar forest division, said, both forest staff and village committee members were part of search operation.
“Multiple camera traps were set up to track the leopard’s movement. At least 15 cages were installed at different locations in the area. A thermal drone survey was also conducted during the night time. Around 4 am on Wednesday, the leopard was trapped in one cage while she was coming out from the sugarcane field.”
Amit Bhise, assistant forest officer, Junnar forest department, said, “The procedure is long to establish the fact that the leopard captured in the village is the same leopard that attacked the boy. The standard procedures will be followed.”
“We have collected the leopard’s DNA samples from the incident site. This sample will be sent to the Hyderabad-based laboratory. Some other procedures will also be required to finalize the fact that both attacker and captured leopards are the same,” he said.
The female leopard that was captured in Alegaon village, will be kept in the Manikdoh facility along with other leopards till the procedure is completed.
Nikhil Bangar, who manages the facility said, there are at least 42 leopards currently staying in the Manikdoh facility. It includes those who are captured during such attack incidents, leopards and the cubs that were rescued and are under temporary observation, and those who are paralysed, injured, and need lifetime care.
Meanwhile, both the forest department and wildlife SoS team are also studying the camera trap records to identify the leopard movement in and around the Ale village area, said a forest official.
