The full grown male leopard- suspected to be a man-eater — which is believed to have killed at least seven people from Raiwala over the past two years, was finally captured by a team of foresters from Motichur range of Rajaji Tiger Reserve on Thursday morning.
The big cat was later sent to Chidiyapur rescue centre after it was tranquilized. It is now being kept under the supervision of a team of doctors, the forest officials said. They further said that the leopard might have turned a man- eater as its teeth are not sharp enough to kill its prey.
Raiwala area adjacent to the Rajaji Park and Tiger Reserve saw many reportedly killed by leopards.
The latest happened just two days ago when a half-eaten body of a man was found in Motichor range. Similar incident was reported around three months ago when a truck driver was reportedly killed in a leopard attack.
Some other incidents also surfaced when a leopard had intruded in the residential colonies of Raiwala and Haripur Kalan while taking stray dogs and domestic animals as prey.
The park director Sanatan Sonekar said that for the past two years, the forest department had been trying to trap this leopard. As many as 20 forest officials and 15 camera traps were used to figure out the movement of the leopard, added the director.
Chilla range officer A K Painuly said that three cages were placed in Motichor range to trap the man-eater. “One was trapped in a cage on Thursday morning. It has not yet been officially confirmed whether this leopard is the man eater we laid trap for. However, its decayed teeth and nails are enough for us to conclude that it might be the man eater we were searching for,” he said.