A wild leopard entered the safari of the Statue of Unity (SoU) complex in Gujarat's Narmada district and reportedly killed a blackbuck, following which seven other blackbucks died “of shock”, forest department officials alleged on Saturday. The leopard has not been caught yet, said the officials. For the last 48 hours, officials of Kevadia division of the Forest Department, have been on an alert to track the movements of the sub-adult wild leopard that entered the Sardar Patel Zoological Park, located across the Statue of Unity in Ekta Nagar, on the intervening night of January 2. The officials said that the leopard entered into the park with the aim to attack and prey on a black buck. In total eight blackbucks were reported dead, one in the leopard attack and the other seven “fell to the ground due to the shock,” the officials told The Indian Express on Saturday. After the incident, the park was closed for the tourists for some time and reopened on Saturday, said the officials. The officials said, “The leopard — a sub-adult aged between two to three years old — is yet to be captured”. In the first such incident of a wild leopard entering the safari at SoU, the big cat sneaked into the herbivore area and entered the enclosure of the black bucks. Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Kevadia, Agniveer Vyas said that since the jungle safari is surrounded by the forest in its periphery, the movement of leopards is common but it was the first incident of a wild big cat straying into the well-fenced park. Vyas said, “The jungle safari is located in the middle of a thick forest, including the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary. There are several dense areas within the safari park as well as about 75% of the periphery of the Kevadia forest division. While the safari park is well-fenced and guarded, one free-ranging wild leopard managed to make its way into the park and enter the herbivore enclosure”. Vyas added that since the safari park is monitored round-the-clock via the CCTV cameras, footage of which is checked in a control room, the leopard was spotted immediately and the guards were alerted. “The safari park has good CCTV coverage and the security personnel were immediately alerted, which caused the leopard to run away. It did attempt to prey on one blackbuck and seven others were found dead from shock and panic…” “As per the procedure, the animals’ post-mortem examinations were conducted and the caracasses were confined to flames. We have also checked the periphery and no breach has been found in the fencing,” Vyas said further. The DCF said, “The herbivore enclosure was closed for tourists for 48 hours to allow the forest department to track the movement of the leopard, however, the big cat has not appeared in the camera circuit again. The area was opened again for the tourists on Saturday”. “We have placed cameras and traps on the trail. Since it was a sub-adult, by nature it would have been curious to explore a new territory to find a prey. Since it has already entered and attempted to prey, there are chances that it might make its way again as it has seen the herbivores in the enclosure,” Vyas said.
