Dahod forest department sets up traps to nab leopard

Puwar said that most of the homes in the revenue area in close proximity to the forest area have standing crops such as maize right outside their doors, thus giving the leopards a good cover to hide.

“In most of the homes in the village, they grow crops in their courtyards without leaving even a space of two feet from the door. In such cases, it’s difficult to spot animals. Friday’s is one such case where the child was playing in the courtyard but the family couldn’t spot the animal,” Puwar said.

On July 29, the big cat dragged away a nine-year-old from Khajuri village in the same taluka. On July 9, an 11-year-old from Amli Mainpur village of the taluka succumbed to injuries in a leopard attack while playing in his courtyard in a similar way as the attack of Friday. A total of 17 human-leopard conflicts have been reported in the area since July.

Puwar said, “We have set up 10 traps in different places today. We already had five traps in place for the last 10 days or so. We have been telling villagers to avoid venturing into the forest areas. In many cases, they take along small children when they enter the buffer and core areas of the forest to graze the cattle or goats. It can, of course, lead to conflict because when the leopard comes face to face with a human, the first instinct of the animal is to attack in defence.”

Puwar said that according to the 2016 leopard census in the area, there are 51 big cats and therefore, the attacks could involve multiple animals. “Usually the territorial area of one leopard is around 25 square kilometres. The 17 attacks in the last one month could belong to multiple leopards but the three fatal attacks on children seem to be of one leopardess,” Puwar said.