NUAPADA: The animal that had been on a killing spree near Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary for the past one month, has been confirmed to be a leopard after its image of moving around the Jalmadei village in Sasang gram panchayat was captured by the trap camera installed in the vicinity on Wednesday morning. But by then it had claimed the life of an ox in the village.
The half-eaten carcass of the ox was found in a forest nearby on Tuesday. Corroborating that the ox fell prey to the leopard on Tuesday morning, DFO, Widllife, BBK Biswasi said, “We have captured a clear footage of the leopard in the trap camera installed in the village,” he said.
This is the third such case reported from Jalmadei while the first was on March 19 when a 65-year-old woman was killed by the leopard. Initially it was suspected to be a Royal Bengal Tiger. In the second incident, a calf was killed on March 21. Besides, multiple cases of livestock hunting by the leopard have been reported from Powertala and Taria Mahuabhata villages under Amanara gram panchayat and Silaribahara near the sanctuary.