Leopard attacks: Bijnor district reports four deaths in a week - Hindustan Times
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Leopard attacks: Bijnor district reports four deaths in a week

ByS Raju, Meerut
Apr 27, 2023 06:56 PM IST

Arun Kumar, divisional forest officer (DFO), Bijnor, has forwarded his recommendation to the chief wildlife warden in Lucknow to declare the leopard a man eater and to grant permission for its hunt.

A leopard has killed four persons in district Bijnor, including two children, in Nageena area, in a short span of a week.

DFO Arun Kumar interacting with villagers where a leopard killed a person. (HT Photo)
DFO Arun Kumar interacting with villagers where a leopard killed a person. (HT Photo)

Arun Kumar, divisional forest officer (DFO), Bijnor, has forwarded his recommendation to the chief wildlife warden in Lucknow to declare the leopard a man eater and to grant permission for its hunt.

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Speaking over the phone, Kumar said that initial investigation points towards the same leopard in the killings. That is why a recommendation has been sent to declare it a man eater, he said.

Frequent attacks of the leopard have created fear among villagers who have demanded that it either be caged immediately or be killed.

The DFO said that at least eight villages have been placed on high alert after the string of attacks by the leopard, and individual teams of forest and wildlife experts are keeping a close watch on the movement of the leopard in each village.

Wildlife experts from the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve and local forest staff are trying to zero in on the location of the leopard so that it could be tranquilized. Meanwhile, cages have been placed at multiple places to attract and catch the leopard.

Forest officials have made announcements from mosques and temples in affected villages, asking the villagers to remain cautious while stepping out to their houses. They have been advised to go to the fields in groups, keep listening to songs on their mobiles at high volume, not to bend while working in the field, avoid sleeping in their field, and avoid sending children alone to markets and in alleys of the village.

They have also been asked to report the movement of the leopard immediately to forest officials. Pamphlets have also been distributed in villages which carry names and contact numbers of team members of different areas.

Reports of leopard attacks started surfacing since February 18 this year and since then leopards have killed seven people and injured more than eight others in Nageena, Afjalgarh and Rehad area.

Activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (an apolitical organisation) also staged a demonstration at the DFO office in Bijnor, demanding that the leopard be caught immediately to protect villagers.

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