E-Paper
Goat plot goes wild: Trap set for big cat bags man instead in UP’s Bahraich
A man in Uttar Pradesh was trapped for two hours in a leopard trap while attempting to steal a goat. He was rescued, but no charges were filed.
A man remained trapped nearly for two hours inside a cage placed by the forest department to capture a leopard in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district, officials said on Friday. The incident occurred on Thursday night in Umri Dehalo village, where an elderly woman was killed in a leopard attack two days earlier, in Fakhrpur police station area when a local Pradeep, 45, entered the trap allegedly in an intoxicated state to steal the goat tied inside as bait for the big cat.
As soon as he stepped inside, the automatic door shut, leaving him locked there with the goat. When he could not free himself, he shouted for help and contacted villagers using his mobile phone. Subsequently, other villagers rushed to the spot. Besides, the forest department and police were also informed.
A forest department team then arrived there and rescued Pradeep. When questioned, the man claimed he had gone inside “to check whether the cage was working properly”. However, other villagers alleged that he entered the cage to steal the goat.
Confirming the incident and the man’s rescue, divisional forest officer Ram Singh Yadav said no case has been registered against Pradeep but he was issued a strict warning. The officer further explained that the gate of the cage is quite heavy and anyone attempting to enter it in such a manner may sustain serious injuries.
The cage had been installed just 500 metres from Pradeep’s house after one 55-year-old Shanti Devi, a resident of the same village, was attacked by a leopard near the sugarcane fields on Wednesday evening. Despite villagers’ efforts to scare the animal away, she sustained severe injuries and later died during treatment at the medical college. The forest department continues efforts to track and capture the leopard roaming in the area.
