Two leopards caged in Dooars gardens

The leopard caged in the Garganda Tea garden

TT, 4 February 2019, Alipurduar: Two leopards have been trapped in tea gardens in the Dooars where attacks by big cats have been reported in the past one-and-a half months and led to deaths of three children.

The foresters are, however, yet to confirm whether any of the trapped animals is the suspected man-eater that was considered responsible for the killing of three children recently.

According to the foresters, this is the sixth leopard that has been trapped in the tea gardens of Birpara-Madarihat block in the past two months.

Sources said an adult male leopard had been trapped on Dhumchipara Tea Estate on Saturday.

On Sunday, an adult female leopard walked into another cage laid by the forest department on Garganda Tea Estate.

"The leopard that is suspected to be behind the killings is a male leopard. We need to check out whether the animal that was trapped on Saturday is the same one. Both the animals have been shifted to the leopard rescue centre in Khairbari (near Jaldapara National Park)," said a senior forest officer.

Since December 12 last year, people in Dhumchipara, Ramjhora, Huntapara, Garganda and Tulsipara, all tea estates in the same block, were scared of leopard menace. This is because three chil- dren were taken away and killed, while another was saved with serious injuries. Even an old man was attacked and injured twice by leopards.

This made the forest department lay as many as 17 cages in the gardens and install 12 trap cameras to cage the animals and know their locations. Also, six teams, armed with dart guns, were posted in the gardens.

The panic of leopards had also spread to the neighbouring areas. This made residents of Raichenga village under Falakata block of the district kill a leopard that sneaked into the area on January 31..