Maha: Efforts on to capture 'man-eater' leopard, says official

The forest department was taking enormous efforts to capture or neutralize a leopard that has killed nine people in Solapur, Beed, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts so far, an official said on Tuesday. The priority is not to shoot the animal, but to tranquilize and capture it alive.

The forest department was taking enormous efforts to capture or neutralize a leopard that has killed nine people in Solapur, Beed, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts so far, an official said on Tuesday. A directive to kill the ''man-eater'' leopard was issued earlier this month after it mauled to death a 9-year-old girl in Karmala in Solapur, he said.

''The current location of the leopard is suspected to be Ujani backwater in Solapur district. We have formed 16 teams comprising forest staff, police, SRPF personnel, teams with tranquilizers and shooters,'' Divisional Conservator of Forests (Solapur area), Dhairyashil Patil said. ''The teams are using cameras, drones to track the animal. On the basis of data compiled from pugmarks, the teams are moving. The priority is not to shoot the animal, but to tranquilize and capture it alive. Shooting the animal is our last resort,'' said Patil.

He said the animal is now on the run due to the presence of forest department teams and there were no reports of attacks by it in the last 10 days..