Two leopards trapped in Alipurduar tea garden after villagers protest over boy's death
Telegraph | 11 October 2023
Two leopards were caged in the Tasati tea garden of Alipurduar district in the past 48 hours.
A boy had been killed by a leopard on the same plantation on Thursday.
After the boy's death, local people resorted to a road blockade, demanding that the forest department take immediate steps to prevent such attacks. This made the foresters set three cages in the garden. On Saturday night, a leopard walked into one of the traps. The residents heard its growling and informed the foresters.
Around 11pm, a team from the forest department reached the spot and took the leopard to the rescue centre in South Khayerbari which is on the fringes of the Gorumara National Park.
On Monday morning, garden workers found another leopard trapped in a cage. The foresters took away that animal also to the rescue centre. “There was panic in the garden after the boy was attacked. We were suspecting there was more than one leopard in the garden. We were proved right," said a resident.
Leopards, the foresters said, often stray into tea gardens near reserve forests. “They enter the gardens for the availability of easy prey and to deliver cubs,” said a forester.