Angry villagers burn alive captured leopard

[Mrudul Godbole]

One more sad news. Villagers in Uttarakhand have burnt alive a leopard. If we don't act then the leopard will soon be extinct..

Angry villagers burn alive captured leopard

Kalagarh (Uttarakhand), March 24 : A mob of about 300-400 villagers poured petrol on a caged leopard and burnt it alive on the outskirts of the Corbett National Park here, even as wildlife wardens and some policemen stood by helplessly, an official said.

The animal was captured alive in Dhandhar village, on the outskirts of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

According to Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Conservator S.K. Chandola: "Irate villagers (Wednesday evening) forcibly took custody of the leopard that was captured and put in a cage and was being taken away by department officials."

He said, "The villagers doused the leopard with petrol and threw a lit matchstick inside the cage, sending the animal up in flames."

Chandola said, "Even though there were about 35 wildlife officials and four policemen, they were overpowered by a mob of 300-400 people who would not let the officials go anywhere close to the burning animal that kept wailing and roaring inside the cage until he met his end."

Contrary to some reports, which said the animal had killed a few people over the past few days, Chandola clarified: "The leopard had apparently strayed from the periphery of Corbett reserve area and was reported to have attacked and wounded three people on Wednesday."

Wildlife enthusiasts blamed wildlife officials for not ensuring protection to the leopard which is listed among the endangered species and its killing entails imprisonment up to seven years.

While an FIR had been registered against an unnamed mob, no one has been arrested so far.

Link - Angry villagers burn alive captured leopard - World News, 175321

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The only way to control the crowd is to slap Section 144 and book any villager violating it. Mere registration of an FIR after the leopard is burnt will solve no purpose. After a few days, the police will close the case saying insufficient evidence or some such thing citing that no one came forward to be a witness.

The Forest department officials need to be booked for dereliction of duty.

If we continue at this rate, then the leopard is definitely going to be exterminated and soon people will ask for shifting a few from Africa.

Extremely sad state of Affairs!

Sabyasachi

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

The change in attitude of the people is the cause for rising conflict asserts experts. And this incident is the testimonial for that. The wild animals were always existing near the fringes of the villages and these days even a mere sighting of an animal in the fringe of the forest is termed as conflict.

A few days ago near Coimbatore, an elephant was grazing in the forest bordering the village and people were bemoaning that elephant conflict is on the rise !!!

Only in modern India we will burn alive a leopard and later honour the corpse with garland !

Leopard is slipping away rapidly.

It will continue to vanish from our forests if we don't raise our voice collectively and immediately. Time is getting ripe for us to decide whether or not we need wildlife and forests.