Nagpur: A Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) staffer Rajesh Shan (29) had a miraculous escape after an operation to capture a leopard hiding in a house went haywire in Murdoli on Tuesday.
The leopard jumped six feet and escaped by creating a opening through the roof. It caught hold of Shan who was on the roof tying a net to close its escape routes.
The 2-3 years old leopard had sneaked near the village on the fringes of Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary in the morning possibly as forest fires are raging in its habitat in Chulband-Murdoli area.
The panicked big cat had already injured two villagers Ranjit Kodwate and Rajkumar Fallame before entering the house of Suraj Nahake, who was busy with some work in his courtyard.
Nahake, whose house is on the edge of the village, closed the doors and raised an alarm. Official rescue machinery including police and NNTR’s special tiger protection force (STPF) were alerted and WTI’s rapid rescue team (RRT) was summoned to assist them.
By the time rescue operation was launched, a crowd of about 700 had gathered on the spot. Despite having staff of about 70, forest officials failed to control the crowd, which caused a huge commotion.
“We closed all three entry-exit points to the house by putting cages with baits. Yet, the animal jumped through the ceiling finding a gap where a nylon net was being tied,” said Gondia deputy conservator (DyCF) S Yuvraj.
Talking to TOI from hospital bed in Gondia, Shan said, “The leopard leapt 6 feet from a small platform inside Nahake’s house. It brokem through the roof at the exact spot where I stood. Everything happened in a fraction of second and the animal charged at me. Before I could stabilize it caught my biceps. I punched the animal to save myself. We both fell down from the roof. In the fracas, I rolled down to the courtyard and the leopard escaped into the forest.”
Shan says he is into such rescue operations since five years but had never had such experience. Doctors attending him said Shan was being treated for deep wounds but was out of danger. High drama was witnessed in the village when people vented ire on forest teams for failure to capture the leopard and also over damage to the house of Nahake. “We will pay for the damages to Nahake,” Yuvraj said.
WTI’s project manager in Gondia Anil Kumar said a leopard can jump up to 10 feet from the ground. “After finding itself trapped from all sides, the leopard jumped up to escape. It was disturbed too due to huge uproar outside. The roof made of bamboo and grass was not strong enough to hold it,” said Kumar.
Sawan Bahekar of Sustaining Environment & Wildlife Assemblage (SEWA), Gondia, blamed raging forest fires in Gondia and Bhandara district for flared up man-animal conflict. Three days ago, a leopard was knocked dead on NH6 when it tried to move to safer place. On Sunday, a girl and her mother from Usgaon on the fringes of Koka wildlife sanctuary were injured in leopard attack while a bison was found dead in NNTR tiger corridor on Monday.
DyCF Yuvraj admitted forest fires were one of the reasons for flared up conflict. “Even as forest fires are being ignited at the behest of tendu traders, there is no action,” said Bahekar.
