Indore: Leopard terrorises villagers for 4 hours in Mhow, captured

Mhow (Madhya Pradesh): A 4 –year-old male leopard terrorised villagers of Buraliya village, about 35 km from here for about 4 hours before he could be tranquilised and captured.

When Sangeeta Bai who lives in the house of Bhim Singh's son Gyan Singh woke up to drink water at around 4.30 am she heard strange noises from the animal enclosure outside the house. She was aghast to find a leopard eating the cattle in the enclosure. A frightened Sangeeta informed other people in the house who informed the Forest Department. A five-member team including deputy ranger Pawan Joshi reached the spot with a net at around 8.30 am. SDO Kailash Chandra Joshi and Ranger Ranger Kaushambi Jha also reached the spot.

They called an expert team from Ralamandal in Indore around 12 noon. The team decided to tranquilise the big cat after it was found that putting up a cage would not give the desired result.

Veterinary doctor Rakesh Sisodia of Mhow district prescribed a sufficient amount of anaesthesia and after a lot of effort, the team managed to get the leopard in a position in which it could be tranquilised with a dart gun at around 2 o'clock. Thereafter, the Forest Department personnel entered the enclosure and found 4 goats and 3 calves dead. The unconscious leopard was brought to the Mhow Forest Department office in a cage and brought to consciousness with the help of medicine around 2.30 pm. It is being told that about a month and a half ago, an elderly man was attacked and seriously injured by a leopard in Buraliya village.