Sundargarh: Efforts of the Badagaon Forest Range personnel to capture the leopard that strayed into Gelebahl village in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Wednesday proved futile as the big cat succeeded in jumping over a special net spread and tied a goat as bait on the outskirts of the village and escape to a nearby jungle keeping the villagers on tenterhook.
According to reports, panic gripped the villagers of Gelebahl after they sighted a leopard in the agricultural field adjoining the village. On being informed personnel from the Badagaon Forest Range visited the Gelebahl village and prepared to capture the big cat by tranquillizing it. Forest officials also tried once to trawl the leopard but failed. However, the efforts of the Forest officials on Wednesday were futile as the animal managed to run from the spot after jumping over the net. Finally, the leopard has taken shelter in the Budalia forest on Timina hill.
Meanwhile, the Forest department has said that they will endeavour to trace the whereabouts of the leopard and try to capture it on Thursday. According to Forest officials, the leopard was scared by the large crowd that had assembled to witness the tiger being captured.
The search for the leopard resumed on Thursday morning. The DFO Deep Mishra has alerted all villagers in the area to avoid roaming outside their homes as the tiger is likely to come out of its hiding place in search of drinking water. The villagers, on the other hand, are panicked and spending sleepless nights fearing an attack by the hungry leopard.
