Hunt for leopard after 2 deaths reported in three days

The forest department in Amreli district along with local police have launched a massive hunt to capture one or more leopards which are reported to have killed two people in the last three days.

The teams have set up 40 traps to capture the lions, even as the local leaders have demanded to shoot the leopards.

According to forest department, the teams include three doctors armed with tranquilizers who are trying to locate the big cats.

The officials said that it is too early to declare the leopard "man-eater".

However, there is panic in the locality with a fresh death reported on Friday late in the night.

Officials said that a 40-year-old farm labourer Chaganbhai was mauled by the leopard who was sleeping in the farm.

Officials said that in this case, the leopard has tried to eat the victim. In the previous two deaths, the lions only mauled the victims.

Earlier this year between April 1 and November 14 alone, eight people were killed while over 60 were injured by the leopards at different villages in the region.

Following these incidents and rise in public anger, the forest department started capturing the leopards to investigate. Over the past the one month, more than a dozen leopards have been captured who are being examined.