Leopard returns to Kitam Bird Sanctuary

NAMCHI, 25 June: The State Government’s decision to ban hunting of wild animals and birds with the implementation of Wildlife (Protection) Act, has borne fruit as wild animals considered almost extinct here like the leopard are being spotted again in the Bird Sanctuary of Kitam-Manpur belt in South Sikkim. On the other hand, these wild cats have also caused havoc with attacks on humans and cattle reported from the adjoining villages of the Sanctuary area.
Speaking to NOW!, ACF Wildlife (S), Tilak Mukhia informed that after a long period the Wildlife division has received information from villagers that a leopard has been spotted in the Kitam sanctuary area and some livestock animals have been attacked in the past few weeks while some have also seen this animal in the fringes of the sanctuary.
He further said that the entire Kitam-Manpur belt is ideal for leopards and that earlier, this forest had a strong population of leopards, however, as human population grew and the habitat shrank and hunting also reported in the past, the cat went missing from this belt. “It is a good sign for the State that leopards are coming back to our forests and it is probable that these animals have come from the West Bengal forests”, said Mr Mukhia.
With the ban on hunting, the number of deers, rabbits, wild boars and other animals has also increased in the state’s forests and the leopard thus has adequate food sources to have it migrate to our forests, he added. He further said that department has sent teams to locate these animals and with the help of pug marks and eye witness accounts it has been confirmed that the animal spotted is a leopard.
The ACF informed that Ambar Bahadur Rai of Upper Goam, Bhari Khola had placed complaints with the Wildlife Department that his goat had been attacked and killed by a leopard some days back and many telephonic information of leopards straying into the villages and forest fringes had been received by the department.
He informed that the department has also put up banners and hoardings to warn people of leopard attacks at different points along the Kitam-Manpur stretch and he also appealed to all the people and villagers to be aware of these animals. Till today the department has not received any reports of attacks on humans, he added.