Indore: After a month, the camouflaged trap worked and a young leopardess, whose presence had been terrorising villagers in Ujjaini-Ranbhanwar forest area, was finally caught in the cage on Sunday morning. The mother of the female cub is still present in the area, possible with other cubs as per available pugmarks.
Now, including this little cub, two cubs have been trapped and released from the area. As estimated, there is a presence of an adult female, possibly the mother of cubs in the area as well.
If villagers spot and report the mother leopardess, then forest team will continue setting traps in the area using the new strategy.
Tempted by the goat, leopardess entered the cage. As the leopardess killed the goat, the door closed. The leopard was enjoying its feast, when the door closed. It roared and struggled to get out of the trap.
“It’s probably a-year-old leopardess, a sibling of the previous one, which was rescued last month,” Indore forest deputy ranger TR Hatila said. Terrified villagers have been cautious and feared the leopard family. So, as soon as the wild cat entered the cage, villagers called the forest team.
The Indore forest range team and rescue team reached the spot. Later, the forest workers took it to the zoo for treatment. From November 12, leopards were observed moving towards Ujjaini, Ranbhanwar Tekri, Umariya, Kampel, Rajra as their pug marks, nail marks were seen on trees at many places.
New Technique: Camouflaging and shuffling traps at different locations
Based on that, the forest department team installed traps at over two dozen places in last one month. In last five days, cages were placed where leopard was least expected.
Sometimes, a rooster or chicken and at other places a goat was used as bait in the trap. On Saturday, the trap with goat was camouflaged with leaves and bushes.
Hatila had purchased a goat for Rs 6,000 from a villager to catch the leopardess. The cage was planted in Umariya forest area on Saturday in which the goat was tied to lure the animal and it worked. Hatila said leopardess is fine.
