Wild animal giving sleepless nights to villagers

Dwaraka Tirumala: A wild animal, whom the villagers suspect to be a leopard, is giving sleepless nights to villagers. Already, it attacked and killed the calves of a farmer at Mattevarigudem hamlet in Dwaraka Tirumala mandal in West Godavari district on the early hours of Wednesday.

The villagers said that the wild animal attacked the calf of Jersey breed of K Poornachandra Rao, a farmer from Mattevarigudem. The villagers are now scared and suspect that the wild animal might be a leopard. This is the fourth instance of a wild animal attacking cattle.

For the past one year, several cattle were killed in the attacks. On July 27 this year, a leopard was found dead after consuming a meat mixed with pesticide globules. The forest officials seized the dead leopard and conducted the post-mortem to it at the veterinary hospital and registered a case against farmers Midata Lakshminarayana, Pakalapati Rama Rao and Siribattula Tata Rao for mixing the pesticides in the meat causing the death of the leopard.

In the latest incident of wild animal attack in Mattevarigudem of Pangidigudem village hamlet, the carcass of a calf was found. The farmers informed the forest officials who reached the village and examined the dead calf. They searched for the footprints of the animal and found some footprints of the animal and took photographs of it. The officials in the evening confirmed that it was not of leopard but a hyena.

The farmer K Poornachandra Rao said that several times in this area wild animals attacked their cattle and ate the meat. Moreover, in July this year, a dead leopard was found in Tirumalampalem area, he pointed out. “We fear about these wild animals and already we saw the dead leopard in the area and now the latest attack on my calf. The forest officials did nothing to catch these wild animals”, he added.

The forest beat officer Mehboob said that they conducted a thorough examination of the footprints. “After the examination, it is revealed that it is not of leopard’s footprint, but that of a hyena. The farmers to keep their cattle safe. The hyena may not attack humans and big animals.”, he added.