Thieves out-hunt leopards as Bijnor’s bait blunders continue

Who says there’s no such thing as a free meal? Ask the Bijnor forest department officials. Due to the leopard menace in the district, they put goats as bait in cages but at least five times the bait disappeared after the lock was broken.

To be fair, besides the big cat, who can resist the sight of a goat just tied and left there - to be taken? After all, there’s nothing quite like a succulent leg of mutton done over a slow charcoal fire!

People claimed that the forest department placed a cage on their request on the outskirts of Rambagh colony in the city area after the movement of a leopard was reported. They contributed ₹6,000 to buy a goat which was placed inside the cage as bait to catch the leopard. Though the leopard was not caught, the goat disappeared.

A leopard killed a farmer in a village of Pilana area and the forest department placed a cage with a goat as bait. Villagers said that thieves had stolen the goat from the cage and another goat was tied inside it and the leopard was caught thereafter.

The daredevilry isn’t a recent development, as are the cages and the bait therein. In an incident from February 2023 one such intrepid hunter got trapped in the cage in the attempt to whisk away the bait under the cover of darkness. The trapped thief was the reason for much mirth among villagers, who mocked him for hours before getting him out of the cage.

These iron cages have two compartments. In the smaller compartment, a goat gets tied to attract the leopard and it’s properly locked. The bigger compartment has a sliding door which slides and locks after a leopard enters it to kill the goat, which remains safe being in a separate compartment.

But the divisional forest officer (DFO), Bijnor, Gyan Singh, is not amused at all. He has appealed to people not to risk their lives for a goat and remain safe inside their homes at night, and not to roam alone in areas where movement of leopards have been reported.

He also expressed concern over the negligence of people and shared that teams of forest department had found at least 10 people lying by the roadside or other places after consuming alcohol. “Such people are risking their lives”, said DFO and shared that teams are making people aware not to risk their lives with such conduct.

He said that more than 50 cages with bait have been placed at different locations in the Bijnor divisional forest area to catch leopards.

The entire district of Bijnor has been facing the danger of leopards since February last year and 26 persons have lost their lives in their attacks.