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Leopards giving sleepless nights to villagers
The scary incidents of leopards straying into villages owing to the destruction of its natural habitat, deforestation, scarcity of water and shortage of food have been on the rise in recent times giving sleepless night to villagers in the district. They are not only attacking the cattle and other domesticated animals like dogs, they are also attacking farmers in the agricultural fields.
Nizamabad: The scary incidents of leopards straying into villages owing to the destruction of its natural habitat, deforestation, scarcity of water and shortage of food have been on the rise in recent times giving sleepless night to villagers in the district. They are not only attacking the cattle and other domesticated animals like dogs, they are also attacking farmers in the agricultural fields. It is becoming extremely difficult to venture out during the nights.
There are two forest divisions in Nizamabad district, one at Kamareddy and the other in Nizamabad and in these areas, they are 20 to 25 leopards found at Makloor, Jakranpally, Kammarpally, Varni, Kamareddy, Lingampet, Bheemgal and other mandals in the district. Due to the acute drought conditions, they come out from forest and roaming into non-forest areas. Speaking to The Hans India on Wednesday, Ram Singh, a resident of Singampally Thanda said that two days back, a leopard came to their village and killed their dog and ate it.
Dogs, cows and calves have been killed by leapords in Malkoor mandal, he lamented. Raju, a resident of Malkoor said that for the last one year, leopards were seen roaming freely at various places of Malkoor mandal and killed many animals. Due to these attacks, local people were unable to venture out and move freely in their village, he added. Kalavathi, an agricultural labourer, Makloor said that they fear the leopards and were not in a position to go into fields and losing their lively hood.
She said that the forest department officials should immediately catch the leopard and release it into forest. During the last two to three years, the leopards were straying into the villages. In Nizamabad district forest area, there are less number of saucer pits in forest areas. The Nizamabad Forest Division has only 53 saucer pits. V.S.N.V. Prasad, DFO, Nizamabad Forest Division said that the leopards were coming out from forest for water and they like to live in the visible forest rather than in dense forest areas.
They attack dogs as the leaprods were fond of dog meat, he added. He said that the Nizamabad district is facing drought from last two consecutive years and wild animals were coming out to quench their thirst. The forest department was constructing nearly 550 saucer pits and filling it with water from tankers, he added. The DFO said that their department staff put wired cages at surrounding of Singampally village to catch the leopard.
Allaying the fears of the villagers, he said that they could catch the leapords as early as possible. He requested the people not to attack the big cat or kill it. He assured the farmers that the Forest department would pay compensation if their crops were destroyed by the leapord.
