Leopard chopped up for feast after ‘defence hunt’
A leopard was killed, diced and seasoned for a feast in a Sivasagar village this afternoon, hours after it attacked two girls who had strayed into a bamboo grove in search of firewood.
The forest guards arrived too late. By then, the hide had even been “exportedâ€.
“We have information that the hide will be taken to Dimapur where there is a big market for it,†said H.K. Dohotia, officer-in-charge of Sapekhati police station, where a case has also been registered. But they managed to seize 7kg of meat.
Residents of Dhuniapathar, of course, pleaded that the hunt was an act of self-defence. They claimed that they went after the leopard only when it wounded the girls.
Six, including a minor, were injured in the incident. All of them were admitted to the Sivasagar Civil Hospital, where eight leopard-attack victims from nearby Deopani are still undergoing treatment.
Today’s killing adds to the swelling statistics of man-leopard conflict in Upper Assam.
Five days ago, a leopard and two cubs were poisoned near the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in Jorhat district.
The previous day, eight were injured when a leopard suddenly attacked villagers in Deopani.
Three others were wounded by a leopard in Kalugaon two days earlier. An alarmed forest department has appealed to the people not to venture too deep into the jungles by themselves.
Depleting forest cover has been forcing the leopards to venture into human habitation for food, said divisional forest official of Sivasagar, Utpal Bora.
“The leopards kill cattle, which are easy prey.â€
Daya, a Sivasagar-based NGO, has assured the villagers that the organisation would ensure compensation for the cattle killed by leopards but that the people should leave the big cats alone.
“Our main aim is to save the leopards,†Simanta Borthakur, president of the NGO, said.
According to estimates, over 45 leopards have been killed in Upper Assam in the past two years.
Tags: Feast, Food, jungles