BHOPAL: On Thursday, a leopard that strayed into Mandwar village of Gurgaon was beaten to death by angry, scared villagers. It is reported by an English daily that the big cat, sneaked into the village this morning and hid under one of the beds after attacking some stray animals. After being on the loose for more than three hours, the animal was cornered and beaten to death by a huge crowd of more than 1,500 people. The leopard, probably scared to see so many people together, mauled nine people, including a policeman. Angry villagers managed to corner the leopard and then thrashed it to death using rods and bamboo sticks. People injured by the leopard were taken to a nearby hospital.
Speaking about the incident, Sudesh Baghmare, former assistant forest conservator told The Free Press Journal that, “It think it happened due to the failure of the forest department’s rescue squad and local administration. It is the duty of the rescue squad to protect animals because they are paid for it. They are equipped to deal with such situations,” said To control the mob is not work of forest department. It is responsibility of police. But I think they didn’t approach them. Also there is need of proper training of rescue squad.”
“It is violence and totally illegal. It is just like murder and the culprits should be punished. This is not an isolated case. A similar case recently happened in Jorhat also. Human beings are lawless and they are killing speechless animals,” said Ajay Dubey, RTI activist.
“It is a great loss of endangered species. I think it is happening due to depletion of forest cover. It is the failure of forest department. However, the wild animals are entering the villages only under duress. It has been proved by various research,” Dubey added.
