A leopard escaped even after being trapped in a forest department cage. This rare incident occurred on Saturday morning in the Khauchandpara area of Falakata block in Alipurduar. The leopard's escape has raised questions about whether it was the quality of the cage or the carelessness of the forest workers while removing the goat bait.
Local residents had requested the forest department to set up cages after spotting several leopards roaming around the Supriya tea garden area in Khauchandpara. Responding to this request, the forest department set up a cage with goat bait in that area 15 days ago. However, while no leopard was seen all these days, on Friday night, people in the area woke up to the roar of a leopard.
They found that a leopard had been trapped in the cage. Forest workers from Jaldapara National Park arrived after receiving the news. When the forest workers were preparing to take away the leopard along with the cage, the wild animal suddenly twisted and mangled the iron cage's mesh and escaped into the tea garden.
Residents say the iron cage had become weak due to rust after being exposed to sun and rain for a long time. Menaka Barman, a local, said, "The leopard escaped by breaking the cage's weak mesh. Now I'm worried it will attack again." Assistant Wildlife Conservator of Jaldapara National Park, Nabikanta Jha, came to the garden after receiving news of the leopard's escape.
He said, "I cannot accept the argument that the cage was weak. Due to slight carelessness by forest workers after removing the goat bait, a gap was created, and the leopard took advantage of that opportunity to escape. We have set up a new cage again."
