M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Jan 19: Leopard sightings in the Betla range of Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) have increased in recent days.
Field director and chief conservator of forest at PTR Kumar Ashutosh said: “Our field staff are sighting leopards more frequently these days than in the past.”
Sources said as tourism is shut and Betla National Park is off for the tourists, wildlife have plenty of time of their own.
Quite recently, a baby leopard was spotted with a couple of big leopards in the lower chattan of road number 1 of the Betla National Park.
About food, the field director said that leopards have no problem in the PTR.
“Alone in Betla, we have a large number of deer and that becomes the soft prey of this carnivore,” Ashutosh said.
There are a few episodes when leopards have preyed on cows too.
Presence and movement of leopards do not affect the elephants in the National Park.
Unlike African countries, where fight between leopard and elephant is heard quite often, here in Jharkhand’s PTR it is all a truce between the two wild life.
So far, there is no case of leopard mauling any villager or staff of the PTR unlike sloth bear which has many episodes of attacking and even killing villagers.
Last year, sloth bears had mauled three people to death in the Bhandarya region of the Garhwa district.
