Leopard beaten to death

A leopard was beaten to death at Daulatpur village in Boda upazila of Panchagarh on Saturday evening in presence of police and forest officials.     

Locals said a leopard appeared at around 11:30am at Bosuniapara village and took shelter in a ditch beside a water body covered with kalmi trees. Thousands of villagers gathered to encircle the leopard.

Locals believe the leopard entered the village from forests beyond Bangladesh territory.

Local police and civil administration and forest officials were informed about the matter.

Boda Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abu Haydar Md Ashrafuzzaman told this correspondent that thousands of villagers encircled the animal in the village.

After magrib prayers, the leopard came out from the ditch and ran towards the villagers.

Fearing attack by the animal, villagers beat it to death.

The OC said a team of police was deployed there from afternoon. They asked the villagers to keep themselves at a safe distance.   

The dead leopard was handed over to the local forest officer. 

Dinajpur Divisional Forest Officer Abdur Rahman said they informed the expert for animal rescue of Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department.

The leopard was 50 inches long, 28 inches high, with 29 inches chest and 19 inches neck, officials said.

Touhidul Bari Babu, district unit president of Paribesh Parishad, said the authorities concerned got enough time to rescue the animal but they failed. 

According to Bangladesh Wildlife Protection Act 1974, a person could be imprisoned for six months to up to a year and penalised Tk 500 to Tk 1,000 for killing such animals. 

Section 37 of Bangladesh Wildlife Protection Bill 2011 denotes killing of rare animals, like leopard, as a punishable offence. The killer can be imprisoned for three years or fined Tk 3 lakh, or both, for such a crime.