Men left in cages as leopard bait
HUMANS are being used as bait to catch a man-eating leopard that has killed three people in a week in India’s western state of Gujarat.
The animal’s victims included two children, and it has also injured five people in the Dahod district since midnovember. With goats failing to entice the big cat, three forest officials spent Friday night inside one of the nine cages placed around the forest in which the leopard is active.
SK Shrivastava, the region’s chief conservator of forests, said: “Once in a while such experimentation is needed.” The eight other cages spread through the jungle contained animals.
The three men were a forest guard, an official trained to shoot tranquilliser darts and a vet. Mr Shrivastava said that the cage was securely locked and that the men were in minimal danger.