Leopard scare grips Talwara’s Kandi area after attack on cattle

Talwara (Hoshiarpur), June 22

People in the area are in the grip of fear after reports of a leopard being sighted in Kandi area and an attack on cattle at Palahad village. After the incident, there is panic, fear and apprehension writ large on the faces of locals, residents of nearby villages and those living near the forest area.

A leopard had attacked a cow and injured it at Mohalla Nai of Palahad village. Villagers have asked the state government and the local administration to catch it soon to protect their lives and their livestock.

Sanjeev Kumar Bunty, a villager, said he was going home after milking his cow early in the morning when he heard the leopard’s roar and saw it attacking his cow. When some villagers raised a hue and cry, the leopard ran away after injuring the cow. Villagers said in the last few days, it had killed many heads of cattle in various villages of Kandi area. Villagers are a panicked lot after getting information regarding the continuous attacks of the leopard.

Villagers say after the summer vacation the schools will reopen on July 1 and with the leopard roaming in the area, they are worried about their school-going children. Neeru Bala, a resident of a nearby village, said yesterday the leopard killed her 22-month-old calf. Due to the fear of leopard, it has become very difficult for people to even come out of their homes.

Range officer Harjinder Singh of the Wildlife Protection Department, Dasuya, told this correspondent that if a leopard entered a residential area it could be rescued, but it was almost impossible to catch it in jungle. He said Palahad was a village surrounded by forest and the incident had been brought to his notice.

Meanwhile, local guard Rachpal Singh visited the village and reviewed the incident. He said the leopard had come to the village while chasing a sambar, which managed to escape, and on seeing the cow tied there, it attacked it. He said if any domestic livestock in the forest was harmed in any way by wild animals, then the state government had also made a provision for compensation.