Injured leopard goes missing; local people blame it on witch-doctors
A full-grown leopard, which came from the Ripu Reserve Forest to No. 2 Panbai village under Kachugaon police outpost could not be saved despite the efforts of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel, forest guards and local people to catch it alive. In an interview to The Sentinel, DFO, Kachugaon, RN Boro said the full-grown leopard came to the Panbari area on Thursday morning. The leopard turned furious as it was chased by the people of the area, Boro said, adding that forest guards rushed to the spot immediately. The department made all efforts to catch the leopard alive and asked for tranquillizers from the Manas National Park (MNP) authority. He said the SSB personnel were also pressed into the rescue operation. Boro expressed that the Ripu Reserve Forest is the home for various endangered species but there is no tranquillizer with the forest department officials to catch the wild animals when they appear near human habitation. The tranquillizer, which was brought from Manas National Park to rescue the leopard had a only one bullet. There were chances that if the bullet missed the target, the shooter might have to face the wrath of the wild animal, Boro said adding, an SSB jawan who took the initiative to shoot from a close range was lucky enough as the leopard jumped over him and the other jawans chased it with lathis. The DFO said at least three persons of the locality were injured by the leopard. The forest department, finding it difficult to tranquillize it, rounded up the area with SSB personnel and local people and started to fire crackers to bring out the leopard from its hideout but it did not do so. Till the filing of the report, the forest guards were still guarding the area to check if it was still there. RN Boro told The Sentinel that the leopard never stayed at a same place but roamed around for food. He said the leopard might have gone back to the jungle at night as they did not get any evidence of its presence at Panbari during the check. On the other hand, the local people, when contacted by The Sentinel, said they heard three rounds of gunshots. Sources also added that some armed youths came after sunset and they killed the leopard and took it away somewhere. The sources, on condition of anonymity revealed that the leopard was a female and its organs were cut away by the miscreants as the people in remote areas believe that it stops unprecedented bleeding of women during childbirth. This kind of medical treatment has been prevalent throughout the rural areas due to the presence of witch-doctors and quacks, who allegedly claim to have the cures for all ailments. DFO (Social Forest) Sonali Ghosh was also present along with Rangers, Deputy Rangers on Thursday. It may be mentioned here that in 2006, another leopard was killed under the same range and even on earlier occasions, the villagers have killed two leopards.