Leopard attacks calf in Delhi’s Jagatpur village: ‘Fear that humans may be targeted…’

The leopard-human conflict is not new in the village. For months, the villagers had been scared to venture out alone or in the dark. The agriculture had been affected, but following the floods, the farmers started to prepare the land again. Nilgais and wild boars have been attacked. Leopards have been spotted on camera traps and pug marks have also been found. However, the attack on the calf marks the first suspected event of a leopard attacking cattle.

A senior forest official told The Indian Express that a probe has been ordered into the incident.

Villagers, including Rahul, called the park guards, showed them the carcass. A couple of officials from the Central Forest Division reached the village, but since it was already dark, they decided to venture to the spot the next morning.

Around 50 feet away stands 65-year-old farmer Mehfrooz Ali’s jhuggi. “My labourers heard the screams and commotion. The women workers said they would not come tomorrow,” he said. According to Ali, he had raised the issue with the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Central), Chesta Singh, 15 days ago. “I was told that they would do something.”

“The leopard has started attacking cattle… There is always a fear that it can now attack humans,” said Ali.

A Delhi-based biodiversity expert said, “There should be a state wildlife board to implement a mechanism for compensation. In the area, there are grasslands along the river… leopards could keep reappearing even if this one is rescued (due to the wildlife corridor from Aravallis to Yamuna Biodiversity Park).”

A source from the Yamuna DDA Biodiversity Park said that Phase 1 of the park has remained flooded due to extended rain and floods this year, and Phase 2 also remains difficult to access. “Since late August, we stopped monitoring because the entire area was flooded. We have been informed about today’s incident…tomorrow an official would go to check”

Past efforts in vain

A written appeal by Ali earlier this year also noted that the Forest department had sought “proofs and footage of camera capture” to take immediate action. Following a sighting, the department set up a cage in July this year. A public meeting was held on July 8, “to understand the ground-level challenges, assess present and past conflict scenarios, and explore possible mitigation measures to address the issue effectively”, where apprehensions regarding their life and livestock were brought up.

Chief Wildlife Warden Shyam Sundar Kandpal also ordered the DCF Central Forest Division on July 11 this year to engage forest department personnel in trapping, baiting, capturing for an safe rescue and translocation of the leopard from the area to its suitable natural habitat or Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, “in a way that would cause minimum trauma to…the animal.. in accordance to the established norms.”

Ali, however, said that all these were “empty promises”. “Since January, when warning boards were put up,…farmers have seen the leopard twenty to thirty times. We have seen it roaming around the field,” he said, adding: “It won’t come to the cage because the bait, which is goat meat, is pointless. For weeks, forest department teams have not even followed up.”
An adult leopard was first sighted in the village in 2016. Forest officials then captured the wild cat and transferred it to the Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand. Last April, a leopard entered a home and injured at least three persons.

The documentary evidence of a leopard’s presence was first recorded on June 15 via a camera trap set up by a wildlife enthusiast, since then the frequency of its sightings have increased with one again on June 24.

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