Sasan Gir Forest Dept team in Surat to nab leopards

Over 10 teams of Surat Forest Department officials have been trying to track the leopard since the last five days. Range Forest Officer (RFO) of Mandvi, Upendra Raolji said, “We have put all possible efforts to catch the leopard and even installed 13 high definition night vision cameras, but no leopard has been tracked so far.”
By: Express News Service | Surat | Updated: January 12, 2020 2:03:13 am

The Sasan Gir Forest Department team — comprising trackers and a veterinary doctor — arrived in Surat on Friday night, to assist local forest department officials in catching a leopard in Mandvi taluka of the district. Around 15 leopards are reportedly roaming in Mandvi taluka.

In January 2020, two minors have already been killed in leopard attacks in Surat and Bharuch districts. The affected villages are Patal in Mandvi taluka of Surat district and Bharan in Ankleshwar taluka of Bharuch district.

Over 10 teams of Surat Forest Department officials have been trying to track the leopard since the last five days. Range Forest Officer (RFO) of Mandvi, Upendra Raolji said, “We have put all possible efforts to catch the leopard and even installed 13 high definition night vision cameras, but no leopard has been tracked so far.”

Surat Forest Department officials have now sought the help of forest department officials from the Sasan Gir region.

“On our invitation, a team of five members from Sasan Gir, out of which four are expert trackers and one is a veterinary doctor, had come down to Surat on Friday night. We have given them information regarding the locations in Mandvi taluka where the leopard attacked minors and killed cattle in neighbouring villages. Sasan Gir teams are expert trackers and the locations of the cages have been changed as per their instructions. The teams have specialists in tracking the movement of leopards via their pug marks,” the RFO added.

Surat officials had laid around 13 cages containing goat meat and hens, in the villages of Patal, Areth, Tuked, Antroli, Vareli and Kalibel where leopard pug marks were found on Friday evening.

Bharuch Forest Department officials have also been trying to track the leopard that had killed a minor girl, but haven’t had any breakthrough. Bharuch Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF), RB Patel said, “We have made different teams to patrol in the neighbouring villages of Bharan to locate and catch the leopard. We will also take the help of expert trackers in the coming days.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sasan-gir-forest-dept-team-in-surat-to-nab-leopards-6212045/