According to N Ladkat, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Dahanu forest division the victim, Vasant Irim — a resident of Amgaon in Talasari — was severely injured around 6am while on his way to the nearby river.
The future of a female leopard that was trapped in Talasari area on Tuesday now bears a question mark as not only one of the person it attacked on August 15, succumbed to injuries this morning, but also it was found that it has a canine missing. The forest officials and wildlife activist are now worried that the big cat might end up spending rest of its life in captivity.
According to N Ladkat, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Dahanu forest division the victim, Vasant Irim — a resident of Amgaon in Talasari — was severely injured around 6am while on his way to the nearby river. "We believe that the attack was not at all deliberate and it was an accident and even the second incident on August 30 as both were early morning but now that one of the victims has died we have decided to send the leopard to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) for a complete medical examination based on which the future decision would be taken," he said, adding that Irim's family will receive a compensation of Rs8 lakh.
Ladkat added that it was during the physical examination of the leopard that was trapped on Tuesday from Thakarpada that they found its canine missing. "We cannot say that it attacked the two people due to loss of its canine as it was killing livestocks like poultry, goats and dogs from villages regularly. Also both the attacks happened early morning when there is leopard movement and both victims were attacked when they were squatting, which itself raises a doubt that the animal either attacked after being startled or thinking them to be smaller prey," said Ladkat, adding that the arrangements were being made to send the leopard to SGNP by Wednesday night.
Dhaval Kansara, founder of Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Association (WCAWA), along with his volunteers not only was working along with forest department to trap the leopard for a week now but also went to villages to calm the angry villagers and even make them aware about the wild cat, said that they only hoped that if the leopard is fit it be released back in the wild.
"We were worried as some of the angry villagers who were up in arms after two human attacks and loss of livestocks were actually looking at the option of finding the leopard and killing it but we were glad that the leopard walked into the trap. However, now that one of the persons who was attacked has died we hope that the leopard is simply not put in captivity under pressure," said Kansara, stating that it clearly was an accident.
Meanwhile, Kansara who runs a rescue centre for wildlife with support of the Dahanu forest division said that they would also request the forest department to verify if it was the same leopard.
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