RAIPUR: The leopard that killed three villagers in 35 days was finally captured by the forest officials on Wednesday morning after it got trapped in the cage set up at Manendragarh, about 350 km from Raipur.
The man-eater leopard had escaped from the forest department and the district administration for 36 days during which it killed three persons and seriously injured two others.
Since then the officials struggled to capture the leopard. CCTVs were installed and traps were set up placing goats, roosters, and dogs as baits to catch hold of the big cat. Drones were used to trace its locations but nothing seemed to have worked.
On Tuesday two elephants were pressed into action with the experts to follow the leopard on the basis of pugmarks traced in the region.
The trapped leopard is likely to be shifted to Kanan Pendari Zoological park in the Bilaspur district.
The victim’s family was given a sum of Rs 25,000 out of the Rs 5.75 lakh that was declared as assistance for the family of the victims.