NUAPADA: PANIC gripped residents of Deodhara village in Nuapada district after a person found two of his goats killed by an animal which, he suspected was a leopard.
On Monday morning, Trinath Dip of Deodhara under Komna block found his goats dead in the shed while there were signs of two more goats being dragged across. Since the village is located close to Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary, Dip suspected that the goats have been killed by a leopard from the forest.
Following the incident, some of the villagers said they have seen a leopard on some occasions in the last one month. Forest officials visited the spot after receiving information of the livestock deaths.
Forester Jayprakash Shukla said it cannot be confirmed that the animal was a leopard as there were no footprints near the spot. However, all other signs raise speculation over presence of a leopard in the area. Wildlife warden Mayadhar Saraf said a similar incident had occurred 15 to 20 days back when a calf was attacked by an animal near the forest and some villagers had also claimed that three more calves were also killed during the period.