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KOLKATA: A full-grown leopardess that
had been causing panic among residents in the Matidhan tea
estate of West Bengal’s Darjeeling district for the past few
weeks was captured by wild life officials on Monday morning.
It was snared into a cage containing bait.
Speaking to The Hindu over telephone
Sumita Ghatak, Divisional Forest Officer [Wild-Life I],
Darjeeling, preferred to describe the operation as a
“rescue” exercise. She said the animal was later released
into the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary.
Instances of leopards straying into
tea gardens in North Bengal are not infrequent, Ms. Ghatak
said. They enter the plantations from forests for lifting
cattle and littering.
“We received calls from six tea
gardens over the past six months of leopards having entered
the plantations in the Kurseong and Siliguri Social Forestry
sub-divisions”, she added.
Leopardesses prefer to deliver in
the shelter of tea bushes that provide ample cover.
They are also drawn to the tea
gardens which are considered safe from predators, Ms. Ghatak
said.
The drains crisscrossing the
plantations are much sought after by the leopards as well.
There have also been reports of the
odd cub straying from the rest of the litter.
The wild life authorities, on such
occasions, are informed and the cub is rescued, she added.
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