NUAPADA: Panic gripped villagers of Soseng village under the Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary in Nuapada district after a leopard killed a calf late on Friday night. According to reports, the leopard entered the cowshed of one Santosh Majhi of the village and dragged a calf out of the shed to prey on it.
Later the half-eaten carcass of the calf was found a few hundred metres away from the village on Saturday morning. Following the incident, forest officials rushed to the village and ascertained from the injuries and pugmarks that it was a leopard. The officials have also installed trap cameras across the village to monitor the movement of the leopard and sensitised the villagers to not venture out of their houses after evening.
ACF of Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanjeev Kumar Bangola said, “Our staff have been deployed at the village for patrolling. We are taking steps to ensure the safety of the villagers. The owner of the cattle will also get a compensation of Rs 5,000.”
Earlier between March and April this year, several leopard attacks were reported in Soseng village where the big cats had entered in search of prey and killed several cattle. This apart, on October 31, another leopard also killed a seven-year-old boy in Katingpani village under the wildlife sanctuary.
The same leopard was also suspected of having killed another woman and attacked a child in Silaribahara village of Dharambandha block on November 4 before he was rescued and transferred to the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Sambalpur Zoo on November 8.