Fencing trap Kills Leopard in Rajula Taluka, Amreli, Gujarat, India

A farmer in Hadmatiya village of Rajula taluka in Amreli was arrested on charges of poaching on Wednesday after a leopard died in his field after being trapped in the fencing surrounding the field. Ramesh Coli was booked under Sections of Wildlife Protection of Act (1972) and sent to judicial custody. According to forest officials, a male leopard was trapped in a device placed on the boundary of the farms’ fencing erected to keep wild animals away from the crops. Officials said that a person who has taken the land on lease for cultivation from the farm owner had laid the fencing around the farms and also placed trap devices with clutch wires to trap the animals that destroy crops. The leopard tried to jump from that place and was clutched to death. Forest officials registered a complaint of poaching against the accused and on Wednesday sent to jail for the crime. “The device which was used by accused is one kind of trap in which the animal once stuck can’t escape and dies”, a senior Forest Officer said. Wildlife activists have expressed concern over the accidental death of wild animal’s as well electric fencing and other type of devices used by farmers to protect their crops. Recently, Right to Information (RTI) Act application filed by a Porbandar-based RTI activist Bhanu Odedara revealed that during the last five years, 171 wild animals died due to various kinds of accidents in Junagadh wildlife division area. Odedra obtained the details about natural deaths, accidental deaths and poaching of Asiatic lions, leopards, hyena, blackbucks and blue bulls. The RTI revealed that 14 wild animals were poached and 449 did natural deaths. Of the total 171 accidental deaths, 53 are leopard’s and3aions. Rests of the animals are blue bulls, blackbucks and hyena. Courtesy:- Times Of India.