The state forest department last week launched a surveillance in areas around Gandhinagar’s Palaj village, around 37 kms from Ahmedabad, to look for the presence of any wild animal – such as a leopard – after two buffalo calves were killed by an “unidentified animal” last week. Palaj is located around 10-12 km from Gandhinagar.
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As part of the surveillance, officials have set up a cage near the spot where the buffalo calves were found dead. A night patrolling drive has also been carried out since November 14.
Officials say no trace of any wild animal has been found so far and they believe that the calves have likely been killed by dogs.
Early on November 14, two buffalo calves were found dead, with the possibility of “unidentified animals” killing them at the stable of Jashwantsinh Bihola, the former Sarpanch of Palaj village.
Speaking with The Indian Express, Bihola said, “The two buffalo calves were found killed on Friday morning. The buffaloes and their calves were tethered inside the stable. And the calves were killed by some animal. Some dogs were barking at that time in the night. We live on a farm very nearby. Hearing the sound of dogs barking, I woke up and used the torch but did not find anything except for two pigs. I thought the dogs were barking because of the pigs, so I went to sleep again. Next morning, when our men went to milk the buffaloes, they found the calves killed. We do keep a man at the stable every night, but on that night he was away and nobody was at the stable. We then informed the forest department about the incident. We told the forest officials that it seems to us that a leopard has killed the two calves.”
According to Bihola, forest officials have been laying a trap – by putting a cage and a goat inside it – to catch any wild animal.
Ravirajsinh Rathod, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Gandhinagar, said they have been patrolling the area in the radius of two kilometers, but have not found trace of any wild animal.
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Looking at the pattern of the kill, the forest department believes the calves seem to have been killed by dogs.
“We have been putting up a cage and our staff has been doing night patrolling. We are also doing early morning visits. We have also searched the area in the two kilometer radius. But there is no trace of any (wild) animal,” said Rathod. He added, “We have seen the pattern of the kill. Leopard or any other wild cat would pierce its nails into the body of the prey and would also puncture its neck. Here, the bodies have been scratched repeatedly which is being generally done by dogs. (Considering the evidence available) we believe the calves have been killed by dogs. We have scanned the entire area in a two-kilometre radius but have not got any pug marks.”
Rathod said that at the site where the calves were found killed, they have got pug marks of only dogs.
According to Rathod, they have been doing intense surveillance as a measure of precaution to remove any doubt from people’s mind about presence of any wild animal.
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In the event of a wild animal killing a cattle, the cattle owner is entitled to get compensation from the forest department.
