E-Paper
Leopard hacked to death by villagers in Ghaziabad
A young female leopard was hacked to death by villagers of Bajilpur, after the animal strayed into their farmland on Saturday. Four villagers were injured when the leopard attacked villagers who were searching for the animal in the mustard fields. The four injured are recuperating at primary health centre at Hapur.
A young female leopard was hacked to death by villagers of Bajilpur, after the animal strayed into their farmland on Saturday. Four villagers were injured when the leopard attacked villagers who were searching for the animal in the mustard fields. The four injured are recuperating at primary health centre at Hapur.
The forest department has lodged an FIR against 500 unidentified villagers under the Wildlife Protection Act for killing the animal.
The leopard was first sighted at 8am in the outskirts of the village. The villagers called the forest department and the police for help. Villagers armed themselves with sticks and stones as they frantically searched for the animal hiding in the fields.
“There were around 1,000 villagers who were searching for the animal in the fields. Every effort to persuade them from not killing it failed. It was later spotted at around 2pm in a mustard field where it attacked villagers in a bid to escape. Four persons suffered injuries during the incident. Later, the angry villagers hacked it to death with whatever weapons they had,” district forest officer KS Bajpai told HT.
“It was around 3-4-year-old female leopard. Generally, a leopard is not spotted in our areas. We have forwarded a police complaint into the matter at Hapur Dehat police station against unidentified persons who killed the animal. We also got a post-mortem done and reports are awaited,” he added.
On the other hand, Hapur Dehat station house officer Narendra Sharma told Hindustan Times that an FIR under sections of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was lodged against 500 unidentified persons from the village who attacked and killed the animal.
