Leopard man-eater fear

A leopard caged in Birpara

ANIRBAN CHOUDHURY, TT, Alipurduar: One or two leopards in the Dhumchipara, Garganda and Ramjhora tea estates might have turned into man-eaters, forest officials have said after the animals killed three persons within a month.

Records indicate, however, that only one leopard had turned into a maneater in the country, in 1937.

The man-eater fear stems from the fact that a leopard mauled a four-year old girl from the Garganda tea garden area on Tuesday, passing up pigs and goats which were grazing nearby.

Pramita was lifted from the courtyard of her house and her mutilated body was found the next day some distance from her home. "It is unusual for a leopard to pick on a human," said one forest official. The three gardens are located next to each other.

Panic-stricken residents are mostly staying indoors and many have stopped sending children to school. According to a district official, there are 11 primary schools and eight madhyamik shiksha A leopard caged in Birpara on Tuesday. It was later shifted to the leopard rescue centre in South Khairbari. Picture byAnirban Choudhury sendra in the three estates. Sources said that the atten- dance in schools is a mere 2025 percent. "Only those students who live very close to the schools are attending classes," said a source.

Ravikant Sinha, chief wildlife warden of the state, cited records to say only one leopard had turned into a man-eater in India. "It is unusual for leopard to turn into a man-eater. Apart from one leopard turning into a maneater at Jim Corbett National Park in 1937, there are no such instances till date." Foresters maintain that after verifying pugmarks from various spots in the gardens, they are of the opinion that different leopards were involved in the various incidents that occurred in the tea gardens in the past month. The department has installed trap cameras and set up 17 cages to catch straying leopards in the tea gardens. Four tranquilising teams are scanning the area.

Locals, however, suspect the same leopard is responsible for attacks on four persons in the three tea gardens.

Sunil Sondik, a neighbour of Pramita, said: "We suspect that the same leopard was responsible in all the four incidents that took place at Garganda, Dhumchipara and Ramjhora tea estates. These are close to each other." According to a senior forest official, apart from the three incidents in which children were killed, an elderly man had twice been injured by a leopard..