Leopard Strayed into a Congested Town in Eastern India
Date: 31-Aug-01
Country: INDIA
"One leopard has entered the Berhampur town in the morning. Attempts are being made to capture it," a senior government official told Reuters at Bhubaneswar, capital of Orissa state, this week.
The leopard attacked and injured nine people but none of them were critically hurt, he said.
Volunteer groups said deforestation could have forced the animal out of the jungle and into the busy commercial town 90 miles south of Bhubaneswar.
"This had to happen. Animals have no place to go because their natural habitats are being destroyed," Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa, told Reuters.
Orissa, India's second poorest state, was ravaged by cyclones two years ago that left 10,000 dead and destroyed fields and pristine forests in coastal areas. This year, floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed 80 people.