In a case of abject cruelty towards a wild animal, angry tribals burnt a leopard alive in its cage on Thursday, a day after the big cat mauled to death an eight-year-old girl in Surat’s Vadi Village near Umarpada area in South Gujarat.
Shockingly, the area in which the gruesome incident occurred is the Assembly constituency of Gujarat’s Forest Minister Ganapat Vasava. Reacting immediately, the Gujarat Government ordered the setting up of a five member committee to look into
the incident.
The Forest Department, has lodged a complaint against the miscreants and an investigation is underway.
The remains of the leopard have been sent for forensic examination.
leopards and other big cats have been known to stray into populated areas, and conservationists have warned that such confrontations may increase as humans encroach on animal habitats.
Sources in the State Forest Department said that on Wednesday morning a tribal girl, Nikita Vasava was attacked by the leopard when she went out to attend nature’s call near her village that is situated near a forest.
The leopard pounced on the girl and dragged her 500 meters inside the forest. By the time forest beat guards and villagers arrived to rescue the girl, the leopard had mauled her to death, said the official.
However, the forest beat guards rushed her to the nearby hospital but she was declared brought dead.
The villagers were furious over the girl’s death as around a week ago a leopard, who they believed was the same animal, had attacked a 10-year-old boy in the same village.
In order to curb similar incidents in the area, forest department personnel set five traps in Netrang forests and adjoining areas to catch the leopard who they suspected had become a man-eater. They caught the animal and put the big cat in a cage.
However, the villagers, furious over the girl’s killing, shooed the forest officials guarding the cage away, beat the hapless animal, threw petrol on it and set it ablaze.
Ganapat Vasava who also holds the portfolio of Tourism, Tribal Welfare and Forests met the victim’s family and announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for Nikita’s kin.