India News | Maha: Efforts on to Capture 'man-eater' Leopard, Says Official
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The forest department was taking enormous efforts to capture or neutralize a leopard that has killed nine people in Solapur, Beed, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts so far, an official said on Tuesday.
Pune, Dec 15 (PTI) The forest department was taking enormous efforts to capture or neutralize a leopard that has killed nine people in Solapur, Beed, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts so far, an official said on Tuesday.
A directive to kill the "man-eater" leopard was issued earlier this month after it mauled to death a 9-year-old girl in Karmala in Solapur, he said.
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"The current location of the leopard is suspected to be Ujani backwater in Solapur district. We have formed 16 teams comprising forest staff, police, SRPF personnel, teams with tranquilizers and shooters," Divisional Conservator of Forests (Solapur area), Dhairyashil Patil said.
"The teams are using cameras, drones to track the animal. On the basis of data compiled from pugmarks, the teams are moving. The priority is not to shoot the animal, but to tranquilize and capture it alive. Shooting the animal is our last resort," said Patil.
He said the animal is now on the run due to the presence of forest department teams and there were no reports of attacks by it in the last 10 days.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)