Bahraich: Fourth leopard caught by forest dept since September 29

Bahraich: A fourth leopard was caught in the past 12 days after a cage trap was set up by the forest department in a village under Kakraha range of Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, a forest department official said on Thursday.

Forest Range Officer DP Kanaujia said the leopard, a female, has been brought to the range office, and its age is more than three years.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), B Shiv Shankar said the health check-up of the leopard will be done by a team of three doctors. The decision regarding where to release it will be taken on the orders of higher officials, he added.

In view of the incidents of human-wildlife conflict and leopard attacks on domestic cattle occurring in the residential villages adjacent to the forests of Katarniaghat, four leopards have been caught in cages set up by the forest department on the demand of the villagers since September 29.

Kanaujia told reporters that in view of the continuous arrival of leopards in the area, a cage was set up by the forest department in Muravanpurva village of Gram Panchayat Bejha, in which the leopard was caught at midnight on Wednesday. On September 26, a leopard attacked Madhusudan (35) in Harkhapur village of Dharmapur forest range and Sahiba (13) in Ayodhya Purva village of Sujauli range and seriously injured them.

After that, on the afternoon of September 29, a leopard attacked and killed a person named Kandhai (40) in Dharmapur Bejha village of Kakraha range of Katarniaghat sanctuary.

On October 1, a leopard attacked and injured Rehmana (63), a resident of Ayodhyapur village of Sujauli range.