Naveed ul Haq
Budgam, Jun 15: The wildlife department Tuesday achieved a major success by capturing the man-eater leopard alive at a nursery near Deputy Commissioners’ office Complex in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
The captured leopard is believed to be the same who mauled the four-year-old girl to death on June 3 at Housing Colony, Ompora, Budgam. Dr Umar Nazir, Wildlife Veterinarian, who was supervising the operation to track down the man-eater leopard since June 3, said that finally they managed to catch the wanted leopard alive.
“It was at around 3:20 am, the leopard entered into one of our traps. We are 90 per cent sure that it is the same animal that mauled the four-year-old girl to death on June 3,” Dr Umar said. “One of the significant pieces of evidence that proves the animal is same that was wanted, is that the leopard was caught on the same track used by him to enter the residential house on June 3.”
Dr Umar said that they have given tranquilizers to the captured leopard and taken it to the Dachigam national park. “We have also taken the samples of the animal for cross examination of the same with those taken on June 3.”
Pertinently, since June 3, the day when a four-year-old girl was mauled to death the leopard, at least 60 officials from the wildlife, forest protection force, and other concerned departments were camping in Budgam district especially in the nursery area to track down the movement of animal and to catch the same. Cameras were installed, cages and traps set up while drones were also used to track down the movement of wanted leopard.
