This Jharkhand village lives in fear as leopard lurks close by

RANCHI: Jarhi Tola village under Dandai block of Garhwa district remained a human-animal conflict site on Monday as foresters remained in hot pursuit of a female leopard, believed to be the companion of the male which was beaten to death by villagers a day before, which camped close by the hamlet.


Villagers, sections of whom killed the six-year old male with sticks and axe after it injured six persons, reported fresh sightings of another leopard in a forest patch near the hamlet in early hours of Monday. Foresters from Latehar division, already facing flak over the leopard's death a day before, made for the village as the possibility of another blood-sport loomed.

“We sought help from counterparts in Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) and cages, nets were brought in. A battery of foresters then went in to the forest patch beating drums and tin cans. But the leopard could not be seen,” Latehar DFO Arvind Kumar Gupta told TOI over phone. “However, the leopard’s pugmarks were found. It suggested that the animal had retreated into a denser forest patch some 1.5km away. We assume that the animal is a female and seven years old,” Gupta added.

The male leopard was beaten to death by a group of villagers at Jarhi in the district’s Dandai block on Sunday after it ventured into Harijan Tola locality of the village around noon and attacked a dozen-odd people, injuring them. The incident occurred around noon. The forest department lodged a FIR against unknown persons at Dandai police station on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday’s incident left officers of the state department of forest, environment and climate change red-faced. PK Verma, principal chief conservator of forests – wildlife (PCCF-WL), called the leopard’s death unfortunate. “We are awaiting report from Latehar. Thereafter, we will be able to act,” Verma said over phone from Kolkata in the afternoon.

Monday added salt to the injuries as Latehar foresters tried to close in on the animal without a tranquilizer gun, now a standard practice across several states. “We do not have one and had to ask PTR for it. Eventually, seniors were called in Ranchi. They told us that the vet of Birsa Biological Park in Ormanjhi was being sent for tranquilizing the leopard,” a Latehar forest division official said. Dr Ajay Kumar, the vet of Ranchi zoo, had not reached Garhwa till the time of filing this report.