Tahir Hussain
Bandipora,January14: A leopard was caught alive by the locals of Bagtore village this evening who injured two persons in the area on Sunday morning.
The leopard was caught by the locals in Bagtore village with the help of Police and was later shifted to Police Station Dawer.
According to the locals, early morning they spotted a leopard in the Bagtore village and as the locals tried to run to save their lives, the leopard attacked two persons namely Sajad Ahmad S/O Jabar Ahmad and Haneefa Begum w/o Mohammad Rafiq. Both the injured persons belong to Kuragbal village and were later shifted to sub-district hospital Gurez, where they were stable according to hospital officials.
An official said after the incident, a police team rushed to the spot and with the help of the locals, the leopard was caught by locals and is now in the Police Station Dawar.
Residents said the wildlife officials in the area were found absconding as they could not be contacted by both the locals as well as the Civil Government. “Wildlife staff could have easily caught the leopard by laying a trap but they were found absconding while police and locals later risked their lives to catch the wild animal,” said a resident.
An official said the soon after they are able to contact wildlife officials, they will hand over the animal to them so that they can take care of the animal.
The spotting of wild animals in local population is very common in Kashmir in winter season as the forests get covered by heavy snow. These wild animals like leopard, bears and other animals come in local villages in search of food and end up in a deadly encounter with the locals.
The intrusion into the habitat of wild animal by the humans owing to the growing population is also the reason for increasing Man-Animal Conflict in the valley, officials said.
Earlier on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary had directed to send Snow Clearance machines to the Korkbal village so that injured people could be rescued quickly. He had also announced an immediate relief of Twenty thousand to each of the injured persons.
