Tardy response and manhandling on the part of the Forest Department authorities, coupled with mob fury, led to the death of a leopard that strayed into the bungalow of an MP in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.
The residents of Kolhapur’s plush Ruikar colony, slumbering off New Year revelries, were in for a rude surprise to find the big cat which had sneaked into one of the bungalows from the nearby forest. But it was the animal that had a nastier surprise before the day was out, losing his life to a restive mob.
Hours of high drama and frantic preparation to trap the beast concluded with watchers sighting it sitting quietly under the sofa in the house of Congress MP Dhananjay Mahadik.
Amid the hullaballoo that followed for nearly five hours, a teeming crowd caused the leopard to start and run around the colony, injuring one person in the process. While the animal was eventually trapped after a reckless chase, forest department officials failed to respond quickly with the necessary equipment.
Failing this, the mob slaughtered the scared beast. Police had to be deployed in large numbers to contain the excited crowd.
“We had been contacting forest authorities for hours to send a team with a tranquilizer. They said they had just departed from Sangli, but failed to arrive here on time. While the leopard’s death is regrettable, it was too dangerous to let him on the loose,” said Mr. Mahadik.
