Sunday, March 15, 2009

When humans live near leopards' territory ....

From The Hindu:

Three persons sustained injuries when the panicked animal attacked them while being chased by the residents. The leopard too sustained injuries in stone-pelting by residents.

Divisional Forest Officer, Assam State Zoo, Narayan Mahanta told The Hindu that the animal had been kept under observation and was being treated for external wounds caused by stoning. With this the number of rescued leopards in the zoo has gone up to 14.

Difficult task

“Tranquillising the leopard in the open area was really a difficult task as our forest staff had to be fully exposed to the threat of being attacked at any time by the panicked big cat. However, our men displayed courage by taking all risk and successfully tranquillising it,” Mr. Mahanta added.

He said the hills surrounding the city have a sizable population of leopards which often come down to nearby residential areas in search of food, and prey on dogs, goats and chickens at night. They return to their habitat before dawn.

No comments: