Nuapada: In a shocking twist to the misery of the residents of Haladi village, roars of another leopard or leopards have taken the inhabitants by surprise and panic spread Sunday, a day after a man-eater leopard was trapped there.
While the locals were relieved that the animal was caged after unleashing terror there for a month and half, the presence of another leopard(s) has come as a shock. The villagers feared that it might be the recently caught leopard’s parents. The roar sounded ferocious as if the wild animal was too disturbed and fierce. The animal(s) might attack locals while in search of the leopard that was caught, a local said.
Locals assumed that the leopard that was caught was a cub. There were “two more leopards”, both male and female (possibly the parents of the trapped leopard), locals said. Village ward member Husanlal Sahu said footprints of the animal(s) were spotted again near the house of the woman and her granddaughter, who had been attacked by one of the leopards. Locals expressed the fear that the untrapped wild animal(s) might turn fierce in the absence of its cub.
The whole village is again gripped in fear. Divisional forest officer Gadadhar Patra and Ranger Basudev Adabang visited the village along with other forest officials and took stock of the situation. Locals took the officials and showed them the footprints of the animal. The roar that began in the dawn were heard until sunrise, said a local who heard them while he had been to his farmland early in the morning.
Forest officials collected the footprints of the animal(s) for examination. They advised the locals to remain indoors and not get scared. A team of forest officials were posted in the village to guard the area. “The footprints have been sent for examination. The actual number of leopards will be ascertained after the arrival of the reports,” said DFO Patra. Meanwhile, the reports of a boy who was mauled in his sleep are being investigated by forest officials, who said they were clueless as to which animal had mauled the baby.
Many locals left the village and took shelter at their relatives’ house, hoping the leopard(s) will be caught soon. Locals demanded that the forest officials take appropriate steps to cage the animal(s) before they turned fierce. PNN
