The leopard had killed three persons since December 2022. (Representational image)
The forest department successfully caught the leopard which had killed three persons since December 2022 in the Janakpur area of Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur (MCB) district on Wednesday.
The department placed cages at different places by putting live chickens in it. The leopard came to eat the chicken kept in the cage in the morning and was caught. Now, preparations are being made to send the captured leopard to Jungle Safari Raipur.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of MCB district, Loknath Patel said, "The first incident of death due to leopard was reported in Kunwari beat where an elderly woman was killed. After which we installed a cage there but it was not caught. Around 15 days later, the second incident occurred again in Kunwari range in which a child sustained injuries."
"After that the third incident occurred at Singrauli village in Janakpur Forest Range in which a woman died due to leopard attack. As a result of which, we have installed three cages and trap cameras but again we failed to catch the leopard. Later we called an expert team from Kanker district who monitored the area for around three days. We did not catch the leopard at that time either, but we were sure that the leopard had fled from the area," Patel said.
"But again a man was killed in Kunwari beat of Janakpur forest range. After which we talked to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and expert teams from Kanker, Kanan Pendari, Jungle Safari, elephants from Tamor Pingla, and sniffer dogs were called from Achanakmar tiger reserve," he said.
"Three cages were placed at different places along with live chickens in it and the leopard was caught in one of the cages. Further preparations were being done to send the leopard to Jungle Safari," DFO added.