VALPOI: Early morning on Sunday, the Forest Department, Valpoi trapped a leopard in a cage at Deul Wada, Pissurlem. For the past six days the villagers were in a panic after the leopard killed two cows in village.
Pissurlem villagers said that there are many leopards besides a tiger in the village, with some claiming to have seen them.
“Late night on January 8, the leopard entered my cow shed and killed two cows. On the next day, I informed the Valpoi forest officials about the incident. They visited the site and fixed a camera in the shed. The Range Forest officer told me that they didn’t have labourers and vehicle to get a cage on the site. So, the RFO told me to get the vehicle and labourers to carry the cage. I told the RFO that I don’t have that much money to pay for the labourers and rent a vehicle, the RFO said that he can’t help me in this case,” said Dinkar Desai, a farmer.
“So later, I called the Gosavardhan Kendra President Hanumant Parab, who in turn, had called the Principal chief conservator of forest and explained him whole thing and later on the Forest Department had got the cage and fixed it in cow shade. And on Sunday early in the morning the leopard got trapped and soon we had called the Valpoi forest department officials, who had visited on site and took the leopard. I suffered a loss of Rs 30 thousands,” Desai added.
Another villager complained that Range Forest officer Jeffry D’Silva was not receiving calls and behaving rudely with locals and delaying to act.
When contacted, RFO D’Silva refused to comment saying that he didn’t have authority to speak.
