Udaipur,16.04.23-The leopard that mauled a 70 year old farmer at Palri village of Udaipur on last Sunday finally got trapped in one of the cages that has been installed by the forest officials in the area.More than 6 cages were installed by the department in the area and  various teams were formed to nab the big cat which was stalking in the residents of Palri village and was killing either stray dogs or cattle for pray.

 A calf that was tied inside the cage to lure the big was also found dead on Friday night. Following the incident the team was on alert Friday night and the animal was finally got trapped in the cage in wee hours on Sunday.Hundreds of villagers of the area rushed to the scene to see the captured leopard and celebrated the moment. Later forest officials also visited the scene to take the stock of the situation.

The Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Narpat Singh Rathore said that the leopard is now taken away by the forest team and will be released in forest located more than 150 to 200 kilometers away from Udaipur.

Rathore said that the leopard caught in the cage is the one that had killed the elder man Fatah Singh on last Saturday, he said that it has been confirmed with the help of trap cameras foot prints.

Though the leopard had been caught but the cages are still there around the village as it is expected that there could more such big cats from same group, Rathore said.

While talking about declaring the animal a 'man eater' he said that they have already informed the head quarter about it but as is more likely to declare an animal a man eater when he repeats the incident more than once.

It was on Sunday morning when the villagers informed the forest team about the leopard following which the officials reached on the spot.

The leopard had killed a 70 year old farmer here at Palri village on last Saturday evening while he was working on his field. The victim was identified as Fatah Singh Kharwad. The leopard first choked him to death and later ate few part of his abdomen and also took one of his leg away with him.

Earlier the Udaipur forest department had approached the chief wildlife warden of Rajasthan in 2019 to declare a leopard 'man eater' after the animal killed two persons and attacked several others.

The leopard killed a 15 year old boy and took away his dead body dead body in Chanwda village, earlier the same animal had killed a 45 year old in August 2019.The leopard was later shot dead by the shooter of the department sent to Udaipur from Jaipur.

Rajasthan is the first state in the country to launch a project to conserve leopards by improving their prey base, mitigating conflicts with humans and controlling poaching. The project was launched in March 2017. Jaisamand Sanctuary in Udaipur is part of the project.

Leopard is an endangered animal under schedule one of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.