Sindhodh tense after leopard kills calf

Surat: Villagers in Sindhodh village, located about 6km off Bharuch town, are spending sleepless nights after a leopard killed a calf late on Friday night.
Official sources said that the calf was tied outside the house of Chatur Patel at Navi Nagri in Sindhodh village. Late in the night, Patel heard the calf and the cow screaming and upon checking, Patel found the calf to be missing from the post. The next morning, half eaten carcass of the calf was recovered a few hundred meters away from Patel’s house.
Ashish Sharma, wild life warden of Bharuch forest range told TOI, “Sindhodh village lies in the outskirts of Bharuch and so, there is enough reason to believe that leopards have started infringing city areas. This could, however, be a dangerous sign when it comes to the safety of people and livestock.”
Sharma said that the forest department has placed two cages at Sindhodh village to capture the wild cat. He further said that in the last two months about eight leopards have been caught from Bharuch district including Ankleshwar, Kosamba, Valia and Jhagadia.
“The leopards are moving towards the city areas as they do not have enough space left in the jungle to hide. There is no food left in the jungle and hence are targeting livestock in the villages,” Sharma added.
A five-year-old boy identified as Kishan Valvi was killed in the leopard attack at Bharan village in Ankleshwar. The deceased was playing near the sugarcane filed in Bharan village when the leopard attacked him. He succumbed to the serious injuries in the Ankleshwar’s civil hospital.