The fear of the mysterious sheep killer has returned to haunt the Niali residents with five more sheep found dead on Sunday night.
Reports said the unidentified predator killed three sheep at Pokhari village under Bilasuni panchayat and two others in Tarbana.
The sheep killing cases had stopped for three months and have again surfaced with 14 sheep’s deaths reported from different places of the Niali area in Cuttack district in the last one week.
The mysterious animal had earlier killed more than 250 sheep in Niali from February to July, 2017.
Besides, similar incidents of sheep deaths were also reported from Ganjam (Bhanjanagar), Jagatsinghpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Kendrapada districts during that period.
The predators had remained elusive despite massive operatios launched by the Forest Department at Niali and other places.