State Forest department has roped India’s most famous Hunter Nawab Shafat Ali Khan from Hyderabad to tranquilise and capture the ‘man-eater’ leopard in the district.
Shafat Ali Khan, 64, who has more than four decades of experience of tracking and eliminating wild animals when they turn dangerous for humans, arrived in Garhwa with his three other members, on Wednesday.
"Today we will do a field inspection with the DFO, in the field inspection we will see how the area is, where we have to install CAG, where cameras are to be installed, where traps will be installed. After seeing everything, our strategy will be how we can catch. Our team has come to Garhwa in which there are 4 members. My son will also come in a day or two, and then work will be done as per the orders of the forest department,” he said.
As the residents of Garhwa are surrounded by a sense of fear after three children deaths by the man-eating leopard, the veteran hunter suggests that every house in the village should have at least a 15-watt bulb outside so that there is adequate illumination and apart from that the houses should not be surrounded with any grass or bushes. He said that leopards often camouflage themselves in the bushes where they wait for their prey.
Khan said, "The leopard has become a man-eater, people should take care of themselves, do not roam alone after 4:30 in the evening. As important as catching this leopard is, we have to protect our lives more than that.”
The forest officials of Garhwa are also taking the help of Shahzad Khan, a local resident who is doing research work at the Wildlife Institute of India in collecting necessary information related to leopards in affected forest areas.
“Shafat Ali Khan does not charge for tranquilising and helping to capture a man-eating leopard or even killing it as a last resort. The forest department bears the other expenses including their travel. He does it as a social work,” said a local forest official in Garhwa.
Sources said the senior forest officials gave permission for tranquilising and capturing the leopard after it killed four persons in December. Forest officials informed that 10 teams each comprising 10 members have been deployed to keep an eye on the leopard.
The forest department has also installed 60 trap cameras in the villages known to be frequented by the leopard.
“A seven-member team has been constituted to oversee and provide technical guidance to the operation,” said an official. The leopard killed a 12-year-old boy Harendra Nayak at Kushwar village in Garhwa’s Ramkanda block on December 28.
A six-year-old girl was killed in Sevadih village on December 19, while another six-year-old child was killed in Rodo village on December 14. On December 10, a 12-year-old girl was killed in the Chhipadohar area in Latehar’s Barwadih block.