Panic in Murbad after 2 leopard attacks in 3 days

Murbad has been left in shock ever since the death of two elderly villagers in two separate leopard attacks over the weekend Such instances of manleopard conflict have not been witnessed in the area in seven years and local residents mdash both human and animal mdash are shaken to the coreAccording to reports the forest department sought orders to shoot the leopard from wildlife headquarters at Nagpur and have been given a go aheadAlso Read Terrifying When humans fell prey to animal attacksThe spot It was still daylight when the leopard attacked the woman in this open field just 300 metres from her homeHighly unusualThe first incident took place on Friday evening With no eyewitnesses or evidence to prove what exactly happened to provoke the animal officials are still trying to understand the unusual circumstances under which the attack took place For one it was still daylight when the leopard attacked tribal farmer Mirabai Ware 55 She was in an open area returning from her neighbourrsquos house just 300 metres from her own home when the leopard is thought to have pounced on her and dragged her away ldquoFamily members followed the trail of blood till they found her body in the bushesrdquo said a forest officialRead Story Ovala leopard attack High walls and fencing cannot stop leopards say expertsHunger was not the motive ndash the leopard did not feed on the body There were however claw and teeth injuries on her body that indicate she tried to fight off the big cat There is no sign yet that it was a deliberate attack Thane Forest Department FD officials are investigating whether the woman was crouching on the ground to relieve herself which may have led the leopard to mistake her for preyOfficials sayldquoI cannot comment on whether it was a deliberate attack or just an accident because we donrsquot have eyewitnesses We donrsquot even know whether the victim was sitting on the ground or was walking when the incident happened We have been working on this operation since Saturday and have set up trap cages to catch the leopardrdquo said Mayur Kamath honorary wildlife warden of Mumbai and member of the State Wildlife Board The leopard rescue team from Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Thane FD team are posted in the arealdquoOur team in Tokawade village has already started camera trapping in the area and has also increased patrolling The officials have started awareness programmes in the villages and tribal hamlets and distributed pamphlets area informing the villagers about the dos and donrsquots in such situations We are taking the best possible measures to trap the animalrdquo said Kishor Thakare deputy conservator of forest ThaneAlso Read Mumbai Aarey tribals in the dark fear leopard attacksAccording to FD officials there is another leopard prowling neighbouring villages where it attacks dogs and small cattle Even on the day Mirabai was killed in Singapur a leopard was sighted in the nearby Vaishakhare villageChickens die of shockAt around 2 am on the same night the leopard was also spotted near a poultry farm in the village over 1 km away from the spot where the woman was killed Sensing the presence of the big cat some chickens died of the shock According to locals the leopard twice attempted to enter the poultry farm late on Saturday night and in the wee hours of Sunday FD officials have got the video footage of the leopard from the camera traps they installed and they said it is a huge male leopard ldquoThere have been a few attacks on the livestock in the last two to three months The Forest Department should make sure that the animal behind the attack is trapped at the earliest because already one human death has happenedrdquo said one of the villagersSecond attackYet another villager Barku Bhoir 52 was killed by a leopard last night while he was grazing his cattle in the PaluSonawale dam area 4 km from SingapurA mob of 300 angry locals stoned FD vehicles in protest forcing officials to run for their lives The riot police were called to control the situation ldquoNow the only option is to eliminate the animal before another incidentrdquo said Mayur Kamath honorary wildlife warden of MumbaiLast attack in Mumbaigtgt In October 2013 4yearold Hiya Mhase was killed in a leopard encounter in Khadakpada which is 500700 metres away from the proposed site of the Metro III car depot in Aarey Colonygtgt In the same month Sunil Bhor 10 was injured in manleopard conflict at Navpada just 300 meters away