Forest officials catch leopard after it kills 2

So far,the leopard had managed to escape the several traps laid by the forest officials.

In the latest incident,two women had gone to work on their farm early on Sunday morning. On sighting them,the leopard leaped and sunk its teeth around the younger woman’s neck. The 28-year-old died on the spot.

When the forest officials were called in,they laid a trap for the eighth time near the spot. They hoped that the leopard would revisit the spot to collect its catch,which indeed it did later that night,and was caught by the officials. Earlier,after the leopard had killed the teenager in Nanavora village,officials had set up cages at seven separate points. They had expected the animal to visit one of these spots in search of prey,but it managed to evade all the traps.

According to Range Forest Officer H S Patel,the same leopard was behind both the attacks — a female,not more than five years old. “We have compared the footprints of the trapped leopard from those collected from the locations where the two incidents took place,and they match,establishing that the same leopard was involved in both the attacks. After the first attack,it had got the taste of human blood and was looking for its second prey,” he said. “There are as many as four leopards in our forest range,but we had never heard of any such incident until now. Since it has already tasted human blood,it is most likely to strike again. We discussed this issue with the higher officials in Gandhinagar,and decided to send it to the Halol facility for good,” Patel said.