A leopard gets the officials on toes..again!

[Guest guest]

Once more a leopard visits one of the villages in Uttar Pradesh. Not a

surprising incident though….what with humans encroaching the poor animal's

territory the leopard is forced to pay them a visit whenever it feels like. And

also it's not surprising at all that the DFO, Mr.K.K.Singh, appears least

interested in doing anything about it. Its quiet a well-known fact how the UP

forest officials are winning their spurs. The UP forest deptt. doesn't even have

the proper equipment to capture any stray tiger or leopard. This happened with

the stray tigress incident in the terai area few months back when the officials

tried to capture it by setting traps that didn't work!

And, well as for `shooting' the animal, as one of the officials points out that

it could be done if it turns `man-eater'. It would be an easy job for the

officials. That's what they have been doing, declaring a leopard or a tiger as

`man-eater' and getting it shot and washing their hands off it altogether! Quiet

an efficient way to work and closing a case, eh?

 

`We've left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we've done

those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us.' –

The Book of Common Prayer, 1662.

 

Warm Regards

Radhika Singh

 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Leopard-on\

-prowl-in-Uttar-Pradesh-village-/articleshow/4652846.cms

 

 

Leopard on prowl in Uttar Pradesh village

13 Jun 2009, 1833 hrs IST, IANS

 

LUCKNOW: Fear and panic prevailed in Banjraha village of Uttar Pradesh Saturday

with a full grown leopard on the prowl.

 

 

The animal climbed atop a tall mangotree and perched itself on a branch in the

village in Siddharth Nagar district.

 

Villagers watched the animal with awe but when some overzealous ones pelted

stones, the feline snapped at them before marching off to a bushy undulated

terrain on the banks of a rivulet. The animal has wounded a villager.

 

Policemen as well as forest officials were at their wits' end to overpower the

leopard.

 

" We can shoot down the animal but for that the leopard must be declared a

man-eater, " said an official.

 

Divisional Forest Officer K.K. Singh appeared least interested in doing anything

about the animal that had apparently strayed into the village from the

neighbouring forests in Maharajganj district or from Nepal, barely 35 km away.

 

" It is too late for me to go there because by the time I will reach, it will get

dark. So I will take a look tomorrow, " he told reporters.

 

The state's chief wildlife conservator B.K. Patnaik said, " I have directed the

Basti DFO to rush to the spot with a team of forest guards to push the animal

into its natural habitat. "

 

Asked if any tranquilizer team too was being rushed, he said, " Well, the team

has been alerted and would be sent to the spot tomorrow, in case the animal does

not return to its habitat by then. "

 

" The leopard was first sighted Saturday morning when some boys were trying to

get atop trees in search of bird eggs, " Patnaik said.

 

" No sooner they realized that perched high on one of the trees was a full grown

leopard, " he said.

 

This was the second incident of its kind over the past 10 days. In Karwawa

village, barely 5 km from the present location, another leopard was noticed by

villagers atop a mango tree. The animal vanished into wilderness the next

morning.

 

Sure enough officials were hoping for a similar disappearance once again.