Immediately after the attack, the forest department intensified vigil and patrolling in the area. Multiple cage traps were set up to capture the animal. (Representational)THE FOREST Department captured a leopard believed to be involved in an incident of man-animal conflict in which a three-year-old was injured in Vadhu Budruk village of Shirur taluka last week.
On May 20, the child was injured in an attack by a leopard around 8 pm when he was playing in the open yard in front of his house. Forest officials said that right next to the house is a sugarcane field, which could have been a hiding place for the animal.
The big cat dragged Varad some distance before family members and neighbours raised an alarm. Officials suspect the leopard to have come to target animals in the cattle shed built next to the yard but attacked the child instead. The boy is currently recovering from his injuries.
Immediately after the attack, the forest department intensified vigil and patrolling in the area. Multiple cage traps were set up to capture the animal.
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Range Forest Officer Manohar Mhasekar for the Shirur Forest Range said, “We rescued the leopard believed to be involved in the attack on the boy. The animal has been sent to the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre of the Wildlife SOS. We will continue to conduct regular patrolling in the area.”
In a similar effort conducted on May 13, after an elaborate operation that involved drone surveillance, the forest department officials and expert veterinarians captured a leopard from Khed taluka believed to be behind the attack on a 45-year-old woman three days before. Lata Borhade (45), a resident of Jaulke village of Khed taluka, was critically injured when a leopard attacked her around 5.30 am on May 12.
The village shares borders with Retwadi where two women were attacked on May 10. After the three back-to-back incidents of man-animal conflict, the forest department intensified patrolling and launched an operation to catch the big cat with the help of cage traps already installed in the area.
The two places of attacks in Retwadi are located around one and a half kilometres away from each other. In the first incident, which took place around 6.15 pm on May 10, Rizwana Abdul Pathan was attacked by a leopard not far from her home. At around 8.30 pm on the same day, Aruna Sanjay Bhalekar was grievously injured in another attack by the same animal.
In another incident at Thorandale village in Ambegaon Taluka on May 11, 17-year-old Onkar Temgire, who had gone to the farm to water the crops was attacked by a leopard at around 5.30 am.
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