GUWAHATI: A leopard in Assam’s Jorhat that injured 15 people was tranquilised and brought under control.
The animal had appeared at the campus of the Rainforest Research Institute in the Assam town on Monday morning and unleashed a reign of terror by attacking people. The injured were admitted to a local hospital and stated to be out of danger.
Official sources said it took nearly 24 hours for the forest staff to locate the animal. It was tamed on Tuesday morning.
CWRC head and WTI joint director Rathin Barman told TNIE that a vet was sent to Jorhat to tranquilise the leopard. After the process of tranquillisation, the forest officials noticed multiple injuries on the leg of the animal.
“We noticed multiple fractures in one leg. The treatment has already started at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Kaziranga,” he said.
“The animal was injured before being caught. We suspect that some people had attacked it and that’s why the animal showed much aggression,” Barman said.
He also said that the Rainforest Research Institute and its surrounding areas have leopards and human-leopard conflicts are common in Assam.
There have been numerous incidents in the past when people killed leopards after they appeared in human settlements.