Man-eating leopard sentenced to life in prison
Appearance: Generally you must have heard about life imprisonment for humans, but today we are going to tell you about a four-legged animal that has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Now he won’t be able to leave the cage for the rest of his life. Now the leopard will have to stay in the rehabilitation center for the rest of its life until its death.
Man-eating leopard becomes prisoner number one
You have often heard that leopards attack humans and make them their prey. After capturing a man-eating leopard, it must be kept in captivity for life. They should be kept away from human habitations. In the face of increasing leopard attacks on humans, now the Gujarat administration has also swung into action. A special rehabilitation center has been created for him, where the injured man-eating leopard will be kept. The leopard that attacked a 7-year-old boy 20 days ago has become prisoner number 1 at the rehabilitation center built at Jankhavav in Surat district.
what’s the whole deal
15 days ago, at night, a leopard picked up a 7-year-old boy, took him to a reed field and killed him. The family had come to Uskar village in Mandvi taluka of Surat district from Nandurbar in search of work. The couple and other migrant workers had found work in a sugar cane field in the town. The couple had camped on the outskirts of the town. The family was sleeping outside their settlement when the leopard attacked 7-year-old Ajay and dragged him into the field. As soon as the people of the colony found out, they began searching for the boy.
The inhabitants of the colony saw leopard tracks near the house. When people went out to look for the boy, the boy’s body was found in a sugar cane field 300 meters from the settlement. As soon as the Forest Department received the information, 10 cages were set up to trap the leopard. A few hours later, the leopard came looking for scraps of food and was captured in the cage.
A forest department official said this.
DCF Anand Kumar said that due to the increasing population of leopards in the forests of south Gujarat, they have started approaching human settlements. Before they used to make dogs and pets their prey, now they have started attacking humans too. Earlier, if man-eating leopards were captured, they were sent to Vadodara. Now we have prepared a leopard rehabilitation center at Jankhwav in Mandvi at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore, which has the capacity to house 10 leopards. The man-eater captured in Mandvi has become the first prisoner of this centre.
Leopard attacks on the rise in Gujarat
Leopard attacks have increased in south Gujarat in recent times. In September, two girls were attacked in Navsari district. Both were treated at the hospital. Leopard killed three people in Gujarat in 2023-24. Between 2012 and 2020, 109 people were killed in leopard attacks in Gujarat.
According to government data, in 2016 there were only 43 leopards in south Gujarat, but by 2023 their numbers have more than doubled to 104. He believes this number is likely to triple to around 400 by 2030. We have also made preparations for that. We are going to open another leopard rehabilitation center within a year.
Report: Shailesh Champaneria, Surat
