2 dead cows in a week set off fear of leopard
GURGAON: With two cows found dead in the area in one week, residents of villages in Sohna are afraid that a leopard is loose in the region and has been attacking their domestic animals.
The dead cows were found in Abhyapur and Khohas Aravalli villages of Sohna. Residents have informed the local wildlife staff of the development.
These villages are close to dense forest areas in the Aravallis and are vulnerable to leopard sightings or attacks.
However, the wildlife department said the attacks on the cows might not be the work of a leopard at all.
“The attacks could be by any other animal as well. We visited the area, but did not find any leopard pugmarks there,” said Shyam Sunder Kaushik, district forest officer (DFO), wildlife, Gurgaon.
As the two villages are close to Dumdama lake and the Aravalli forest area, there is adequate space and food in the area for survival of the predator species.
According to the villagers, there have been frequent sightings of wildlife in the area.
Forest department teams remain alert and have been regularly monitoring the area to prevent any untoward incident.
With increasing urbanisation, cases of attack on animals straying into civilian areas and man-animal conflict have increased over the past few years.
The most notable in recent times is the incident on November 24 when a two-and-a-halfyear-old leopard was beaten to death by residents of Mandawar village Sohna, after the animal had strayed into the village’s residential area.
On December 28, a three-anda-half-year-old male leopard was captured after it had strayed into mustard fields near Malaka village of Tauru, around 40 km from Gurgaon.
On April 28, a leopard was rescued by the forest department from a house in Durga Colony of Sohna after it attacked six people.
Environment activists have voiced strong concern over rising man-animal conflict in the area.