Leopard caught at Aarey Colony

Four days after 12-year-old Saurabh Thakurddin Yadav was killed by a leopard at Adarsh Nagar, Aarey Colony in Goregoan (East), a leopard walked into a trap set up by the forest department on Friday evening.

Four days after 12-year-old Saurabh Thakurddin Yadav was killed by a leopard at Adarsh Nagar, Aarey Colony in Goregoan (East), a leopard walked into a trap set up by the forest department on Friday evening.

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At approximately 7.45pm, the forest department got calls from residents of Adarsh Nagar saying that a leopard has walked into a bait cage.

The bait cage was placed there on the same day Yadav was killed.

This is the sixth leopard trapped by the forest department in a span of two months. In fact 12 hours before Yadav was mauled in Adarsh Nagar, a leopard had been trapped in Khambacha Pada, also in Aarey Colony. There have been instances of the same leopard being trapped more than once.Increasing encroachments is leading to man-animal conflict in the city.

Yadav was killed last Saturday, when he was relieving himself in a ground close to a thicket, accompanied by his friend Aryan Yadav. Saurabh Yadav was dragged almost 800m into the forest by the leopard and later his dead body was discovered by locals.

The forest department took the trapped leopard to Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Park officials will check if the spotted cat has a chip inserted in its tail or not. Leopards trapped for the first time are fitted with a chip to keep track of their movements. These chips will help alert officials if a leopard strays close to human settlements.