Man-eating leopard that eluded rangers, killed people in UP’s Bijnor captured
The leopard captured on Friday was one of the two that are believed to have killed 13 people in the region over the last eight months
MEERUT: A leopard that had dodged wildlife rangers for months and is believed to have killed several people in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district was captured on Friday morning, ending a chase that has stretched for nearly eight months.
The maneater leopard walked into the cage placed in the forested area of village Jalalpur and was trapped, said Ramesh Chandra, conservator of forest in Moradabad division.
The leopard captured on Friday was one of the two that are believed to have killed 13 people in the region over the last eight months.
“This is a maneater leopard and made its last kill in Jalalpur village almost a month ago,” said Chandra. The senior official added that the leopard has a wound on its neck and was seen to have mostly moved between Telipura, Sikandarpur and Jalalpur villages.
Nearly 12 teams of forest and wildlife officials and a team of Wildlife Institute of India experts had been searching for the leopards for months. They even tried drones with thermal sensors to track the leopards but met with little success. On July 29, the forest department finally authorised officials to shoot the two maneater leopards if need be.
Officials said the leopard is estimated to weigh about 70-80 kg and will be sent to a zoo like the other leopards rescued in the past few months. Most of them were sent to zoos in Lucknow, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Etawah Lion Safari in Saifai.
“It was essential to catch the animal to prevent further incidents of man-animal conflict in the region,” he said, hoping that it would help restore public trust in forest and wildlife officials who have borne the brunt of public anger over the deaths due to leopards.
