Kantapada/Niali: In three separate instances, at least 14 sheep have fallen prey to a mysterious creature here late Tuesday night, an incident that appears to be a repeat of what happened at Niali few months ago.
While at least seven sheep, including two pregnant ones, belonging to Gurubari Behera at Nuababaja village were killed by the creature, Banamali Mohanty of Nadikulasahi lost four of his animals, including three pregnant ones.
Similarly, three sheep belonging to Prashant Rout of Babja village under Aanlo panchayat were found killed by this creature late Tuesday.
Interestingly, in case of all the incidents, the killer creature had torn open the abdomen of the sheep that resembled the incidents in Niali few months back.
In the first incident, Behera’s family members, who found the lifeless sheep, claimed to have spotted some footprints and hair of the killer creature near their shed. Having found that, they have alerted the Kantapada veterinary hospital.
“We will examine the hair given by Behera. The report would help us get a breakthrough,” said a Kantapada veterinarian.
As for the second incident, Mohanty who lost four of his sheep said, “It was around 4am when I heard some commotion in the shed. When I entered the shed, I was shocked to find four of my sheep lying lifeless with their abdomen slit. Later, we saw a black animal rushing out of the shed,” Mohanty informed.
After being told, Kantapada veterinary hospital chief Dilip Kumar Das rushed to the spot and had the carcasses sent for autopsy.
In the last incident, Rout informed the Niali veterinary hospital following which veterinarian Sashank Sekhar Nayak reached the spot and collected the bodies for post-mortem.
The incidents have panicked sheep rearers of Kantapada and Niali. Sources said, the authorities till now have failed to crack the mystery behind the series of sheep killing in the area over the past couple of months.
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