A stray leopard was caged on Thursday night at Gelapukhuri area under Tinsukia forest division in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district.
Source said for past one month the leopard was spotted by the locals in the area. The leopard took away many domestic animals from the nearby villages.
MK Dhar, Divisional Forest Officer, Tinsukia wildlife division said the locals informed about the spotting of the leopard in the area.
“For past one month the leopard has been creating problems for the villagers by taking away their domestic animals. On Thursday with the help of the local people we placed the cage near citrus research station at Gelapukhuri and at 9 pm the leopard successfully caged,” Dhar said.
He said the leopard ventured in the village from nearby tea garden. “Man-animal conflict has been rising due to shrinking down of the forest cover. In recent times in upper Assam the man-animal conflict has been rising tremendously. Community participation is necessary to tackle this issue,” DFO said.
He said the leopard was later released at Joypur reserve forest. Similarly, another full grown leopard was caged at Bokahat in Golaghat district on Friday.
On March 19, 2018, a black panther was caged in Duliajan in Dibrugarh. Another female leopard was caged at Numilgarh Refinary Township at Golaghat on Sunday. Leopards are protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.