Leopard that killed kids remains evasive

Vadodara: The leopard that attacked two children within hours in Ghoghamba taluka of Panchmahal district continues to evade traps set by the forest department. Interestingly, it even devoured a goat kept inside a trap on Thursday and made a mockery of the efforts to trap the rogue animal.
The children were killed from late on Tuesday afternoon to the night on the same day.At around 4.30pm, an eight-year-old boy was attacked near the Kantaveda village when he had gone out to graze goats with others. The second incident came to light on Tuesday night when a five-year-old boy playing outside his house was killed by a leopard.
Since Wednesday, the forest department set up traps in the area where the incidents were reported. On Thursday, however, a major embarrassment was in store as it came to light in the morning that a goat kept inside one of the traps had been devoured by the leopard. It came to light that the trap did not close and the trap was replaced.
Ghoghamba taluka has a healthy population of leopards. Incidents of man-animal conflict have been reported here in the past too.