Indian Leopard goes on Rampage

Once again a magnificent creature is Killed

Man is such a destructive animal

A leopard that mauled 11 people in a fierce showdown with Indian villagers has died of knife wounds after being captured. When will man learn that his fate is intertwined with the wildlife he is decimating?

The snarling adult male leopard leaped at locals and forest officials as they tried to drive it into a wildlife sanctuary in West Bengal state.

Forest official Dharma Dev Rai said villagers used knives, stones and batons to beat the big cat back.

It injured six villagers, a policeman and four forest guards before being hit with a tranquiliser gun.

The cat died within hours, and a post-mortem is being conducted.

The incident happened near Siliguri, about 600 kilometres from Kolkata on Tuesday.

The people are recovering from their injuries, mostly swipes from the cat's claws.

Leopards are protected in India although more are straying into villages for food.

The Indian Times website Reports: Villagers needed to be made more aware of how to deal with animals that strayed out of forests. It said that, in this case, villagers had not paved a way for the leopard to return to the forest.

"We found that its four paws were injured as it had climbed on to a wall with glass shards. Afraid and desperate to return to the forest, it was attacking the bystanders," a forester told the paper.

The website added: "The forest guard further alleged that they had been forced to dart the animal due to the villagers' mounting pressure.

"If we had insisted on providing a safe passage to animals, public wrath would have fallen upon us. In such circumstances, people are in no mood to listen to us."