Leopard kill cuffs on two

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 22 Jul 2019, Darjeeling: The Darjeeling forest department has arrested two persons from near the Nepal border on charges of killing a leopard five months ago.

According to Swapan Hingman, the range officer of Singalila National Park, Pranesh Subba and Anant Tamang, confessed to killing the leopard and its carcass was seized on Sunday. "We recovered the leopard skin from Tamang's house in Ramji village and its bones and skull were found in Rangbhang village, from where Subba hails. The animal had been killed five months ago in Rangbhang and buried there. Tamang had kept the leopard skin with himself for sale," said Hingman. Tamang, 22, is a daily labourer.

The 27-year-old Subba, a painter, said: "About five months ago, the leopard was trapped in Rangbhang. We had heard that the skin of the animal fetches money so we had kept it for sale. Even though Subba said that the animal was trapped in the village, forest officials believe that a trap might have been laid to capture it.

Rangbhang and Ramji villages are located near the Nepal border, around 30km from Darjeeling.

Asked if villagers were being lured to trap and kill animals in exchange of money, Hingmang said: "As of now, people are informing the department about sightings. Nevertheless, the department has organised a meeting on man-animal conflict with managers and assistant mangers of hill tea gardens at Jorebunglow on Saturday and also held an awareness meeting with villagers of Rangbhang and Ramji after arresting the two youths" Leaflets printed in local languages are being distributed by the department in various hill with the contact details of forest officials requesting people to inform them about animals sighting and on any forest related issues," Hingmang added..