Villagers kill leopard near Bhubaneswar

According to reports, the leopard had attacked two youths when they had gone to play cricket and had spotted the leopard in the area. The two injured have been identified as Anadi Rout and Bijay Rout; they have been admitted to a near by hospital.

In the hue and cry over the attacks, irate villagers attacked the leopard with bats and stumps and killed the animal.

By the time the news spread, official from Nandankanan reached the spot. According to eyewitnesses, despite warnings from officials present at the spot, the villagers started attacking the leopard.

During this incident five people were injured. It is suspected that the cat had slipped from Chandaka forest.

“At the moment we cannot say anything, we can only say after the investigation is over. We cannot conclude if the leopard was from Chandaka forest or not,” DFO Akshay Patnaik said.

A investigation has been ordered into the incident and the circumstances that led to the killing of the leopard, DFO J K Das said.

The animal`s carcass was sent for post-mortem, he said adding the leopard was killed before forest officials and tranquiliser team could reach the site to trap it.