Forest department issues shoot at sight order for a leopard in Beed district

The forest department at Maharashtra has issued a shoot at sight order for a leopard which has attacked three persons in last 15 days. The leopard now termed as a man-eater has attacked three in Ashti area and the department has issued order to kill the animal if all the efforts to capture it fails.

Beed (Maharashtra): Forest department issued a shoot at sight order for man-eater leopard in Beed district. The order comes in wake of three people being attacked by the leopard in the last 15 days in Ashti in Beed district.

The department has given the shooting order if the forest guards fail to capture the animal. The order which is valid till January 31, 2021 clearly mentions that the first priority is to capture the animal after tranquillizing it and if all the efforts fail to catch it alive, the forest staff can resort to shooting the animal as last resort.

The order also insists that no prize should be declared for the shooter.

The order further says that, if the animal is caught, precaution should be taken to keep it far from human contact. The health check-up of the animal should be done by a veterinarian. The order also directs forest staff to take out a regular patrol, camera monitoring, collecting evidence of its existence and an awareness campaign to sensitize the villagers avoiding man-animal conflict.

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The repeated leopard attacks in the vicinity have created a panic like situation and BJP MLA from Ashti Suresh Dhas and NCP MLA Balasaheb Ajbe has urged the government and forest department to issue shoot at sight orders for the animal.

It can be noted that the man-eater tigress Avani was shot dead in 2018 after she killed 13 persons in Yavatmal district. Avani was the first predator to be shot dead after an increased man-animal conflict in the state.

Girl killed bya leopard in Solapur

Meanwhile, at Solapur, an eight-year-old girl was killed by a leopard on Monday. The incident happened at Karmala in Solapur and the deceased was the daughter of a sugarcane worker. The girl was seriously injured in leopard attack and was rushed to Karmala sub-district hospital where she succumbed later.