Leopard hiding in house after injuring 3 tranquilised in Kheri

Pilibhit: An adult male leopard hiding in a house after injuring three people in two villages of Lakhimpur Kheri district has been tranquilised and moved to the range headquarters, officials of North Kheri forest division said on Tuesday.Forest officials said the rescue operation, led by Dr Mohammad Talah, a veterinarian at Dudhwa tiger reserve, and Dr Deepak Kumar at Katarniaghat wildlife sanctuary, concluded around 10pm Monday. "The leopard, assessed to be five to six years of age, was found in good health without any physical injury or deformity," said DFO Kirti Chaudhary.Chief wildlife warden Anuradha Vemuri told TOI, "A field report about the leopard's history of straying into rural areas and attacking villagers is awaited from the DFO, based on which a decision will be taken on whether the feline is to be released into the wild or relocated to a zoo," she said.Officials said the attacks began on Sunday evening when the leopard injured farmer Rajan Sharma in Ramnagar village before barging into his wheat straw storage shed. "When villagers gathered with sticks to drive it out, the feline on Monday moved to nearby Banbirpur village, where it attacked farmer Hemchand Verma, 42, and a woman, Ram Pyari, 44, before hiding inside her house," the DFO said, adding that the injured were taken to govt medical facility for treatment. Notably, Banbirpur village is located nearly 3km from North Nighasan forest range.