Cattle back on leopard’s menu in Amangal
Back in February this year, a leopard, killed six goats belonging to Mr Manda Ram Reddy, a resident of Mangalpally village near Amangal town.
Sometime on the night of Sunday or early on Monday, a leopard – whether it was the same one that killed the goats in February is not known — attacked a calf owned by Mr Ram Reddy and killed it. Tell-tale signs of a leopard’s pugmarks were found near the dead calf.
“The forest department people just come, take pictures and go away. They have not done anything so far,” Mr Kondal Reddy, Mr Ram Reddy’s son, told Deccan Chronicle. “Even when the goats were killed, they just came and took pictures but did nothing. We are yet to receive compensation for the goats we lost. The goats alone were worth anywhere from `30,000 to `40,000. And now we lost a healthy calf.”
When it killed the goats, the leopard had leapt over an eight-foot fence that formed the animals’ pen and then made its escape good. On Monday, the dead calf could not be dragged away as one of its legs was tied to a stone pillar planted firmly in the ground.
According to forest divisional officer M. Janaki Ram, the leopard fed on a small portion of the calf. “The leopard activity appears to have started again in the area and we will increase our efforts to catch it,” he said.
It is believed that the leopard left the spot either after giving up on dragging the carcass away or because of some disturbance. It was since the beginning of 2019 that a leopard, or a pair of leopards, has been attacking cattle and feeding on them in Yacharam, Amangal, and Kadthal mandals. Though officials set up cages with bait and installed camera traps, the leopard which killed several calves during the last year, was never caught.