The Division Forest Office has stated that eight people have died in leopard attacks in the forest area in the district in the past five years.
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Bhadu Tharu, 46, of Barbardiya Municipality-11, was injured in a leopard attack on Tuesday afternoon. He sustained a head injury when he was attacked by a leopard while harvesting rice in his own field.
Last Saturday, Kiran Lodh, 40, of Ratnapur, Gulariya Municipality-10, was injured when a leopard attacked her while she was harvesting rice in a field. Last Friday afternoon, Juna Chaudhary, 45, of Dafaiya, Barbardiya Municipality-10, was injured when a leopard attacked her while she was harvesting rice in a field.
Leopards have been preying on humans and livestock around Gulariya for a long time. Two women from Gulariya have died in leopard attacks in Shrawan and Bhadau of the current fiscal year. Similarly, two girls from Gulariya lost their lives in leopard attacks last year.
Last week, at 7 pm, a leopard chased a dog sitting in the yard and took it to a sugarcane field, Annu Bik of Sarjunadi Tapara, Gulariya Municipality-8 said. ‘The leopard has entered the settlement,’ she said, ‘It has become difficult to protect small children.’
The fear of leopards has made the general public afraid to even work in the fields during the rice harvest. ‘The leopard is constantly entering the settlement and attacking, no one seems to be showing interest in controlling the leopard,’ said a local. ‘When I go to the forest to find out what the Division Forest is doing to stop the leopard attacks, I cannot find the head of the office, Vijayraj Subedi, and when I contact him by phone, he has long refused to answer the phone that the head of the office carries and has handed it over to the security team.’
According to the Division Forest Office, only 8 people have died due to leopard attacks in the forest area in the district in the past five years. In the fiscal year 078/079, 2 people died and 2 were injured in leopard attacks, in the fiscal year 081/082, 4 people died and 13 were injured, and in the current fiscal year 082/083, 2 women died and 4 were injured, said Division Forest Office Information Officer Shiv Bahadur KC.
Ajit Tumbahamphe, head of the National Trust for Nature Conservation, said that leopards have started entering settlements in search of easy food. ‘In the forest areas where leopards have attacked more, it seems that the lack of food has affected the settlements,’ he said. ‘While people are working in the fields, leopards are attacking humans, mistaking them for food.’ He said that there is a need to spread public awareness in areas where leopards are attacking more.
