The forest employees on Sunday finally caged a leopard that had spread terror in the villages near Tourenga-Murmura under the Panduka forest range in Rajim Assembly constituency for about a month.
It has been said that the leopard has not been reaching near the laid trap since the last two weeks. But the Forest department was successfull on Sunday morning. On getting information about the caging of the leopard, a team of the Forest department reached the spot in the morning and took the beast with the cage on flying squad vehicle to the Nandanvan.
The team, under the direction of chief forest conservator Narsimha Rao, DFO Narendra Pandey, additional forest officer Alok Tiwari, ranger Raman Sonawar, deputy ranger Dasharath Sinha and others were present there.
The leopard so far had made several domestic cattle its prey. All the villagers were under terror of the animal. looking to the increasing terror, the forest department had made a 10-member team, which had kept a vigil in the affected areas in nights continuously. During the period the department perused the area from where the animal used to enter the villages. Then the department placed two cages, one at Thouranga and the other at Kusumpani.
On the other, the villagers say that the caged leopard is not the one that has been making cattle its prey. According to the villagers, other leopards are also moving in the forest area. In view of that the forest should make regular visit.