Farmers scared after leopards spotted near Hapur villages
MEERUT : Farmers in several villages of Hapur district are a scared lot after spotting leopards in the vicinity of their fields. Afraid of going to their fields, they have demanded that the felines be caught to immediately and relocated deep into the jungle.
Pawati, Jhadina and Nayagaon villages are situated close to the boundary of Hastinapur wildlife Sanctuary in Garh tesil of Hapur. A resident of Pawati spotted a leopard while he was returning to the village on Sunday night. The leopard killed a rabbit on the muddy road and the villager made a video of the incident on his mobile.
He shared the incident with other villagers which made them aware about the presence of the leopard in their vicinity. The next day (Monday), villagers spotted a family of leopards in the jungle of Jhadina village. On Wednesday, reports of their presence in the neighbouring Nayagaon also surfaced.
The leopard sightings in the area scared the villagers and farmers avoided going to their fields. Sripal Choudhary of Pawati shared that farmers initially avoided going to their fields but now they moved in a group of 4 or 5 so that some of them could keep a watch during work. “People are scared and demanding that the catch animals be caught,” said Choudhary. Range officer of Garh forest range Mohan Bisht said that the foresters spotted a family of leopards in the jungle of Jhadina village and were carrying out intensive combing in search of the animals. He advised the villagers to go to their fields in groups to ensure their safety and to not harm the animals because it may attract imprisonment of more than six years. Bisht said that a cage would be placed to trap the animal and his team was identifying a suitable location.
“We are combing the area daily and have shared our contact numbers with villagers so that they inform us immediately after spotting the animals,” said Bisht who is hopeful of catching the leopards soon.
Bhushan Tyagi of Jhadina anticipated that animals like leopards moved closer to villages because of less movement of villagers and farmers during lockdown of two months. “We may come across with similar incidents in other villages in coming days,” said Tyagi who believes that forest officials should be alert and government should provide them resources to minimize possible man- animal confrontation in the area.