VIDEO: Leopard Terrorises Hospital Patients In Indian City Rampage

“This leopard didn’t kill anyone, it was hardly a rampage; it was merely hungry! Humans can’t take away their natural habitat & expect them to just move on! It is humans that are at fault here; by taking away the leopards land etc. Animals go where the food is, they are very territorial, taking away their land involves taking away their food supply, so of course they are going to look elsewhere for food! 

“This poor Leopard must have been scared to death, from the deafening crowd outside…the Forest Rangers or Police should have cord-end off the area & let the Leopard leave the same way it came in! The crowds were ridiculous, so I have no pity for anyone who was harmed…they shouldn’t have been so bloody nosey or so loud! I’m just praying the leopard isn’t caught by locals; if it is, they will surely make it pay, like they have with others they have captured….by burning it to death in a cage or beating it to death!! (As in the picture below) “

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi 2:51PM GMT 24 Feb 2014

As a man-eating tiger preys on villagers in the jungle, a leopard is prowling an Indian city’s streets.

Soldiers, police and wildlife experts were today hunting a leopard which walked into a hospital ward in Meerut, a large city in northern India, and caused panic among staff and patients.

The big cat was first spotted by a timber merchant who saw it emerging from a lavatory in his warehouse and alerted the police on Sunday morning.

Two people in a large crowd which gathered at the site were reported to have been attacked by the leopard after one of them lifted a plank under which it had been hiding.

It was later seen by a caretaker at the Meerut Cantonment Hospital in the heart of the city’s military area where it walked onto a ward where several men were being treated.

Staff at the hospital helped the patients escape the ward and then locked the doors to trap the leopard inside.

It managed to escape and a hunt is now under way to track it down.

“The leopard was last spotted on Monday at around 3:30am on a road near the hospital but since then there have been no sightings. We are keeping a vigil but there is a strong possibility that it has returned to its natural habitat,” said Abhishek Singh, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Meerut.

“It was hit by a tranquilizer dart but we are not sure how effective that was. The animal was scared and was running away from people and in this commotion few people were injured. We were trying to control the crowds from getting near the leopard,” he added.

This poor leopard was beaten to death by villagers!

Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Trust of India said more leopards are straying into towns because humans are increasingly encroaching on their habitats.

“This is happening very frequently because their habitats are shrinking and they come into human habitation for food and space,” he said. “So one can not say these animals are hunting humans for food, they are merely looking for food because humans took their food source away…if someone gets in their way & makes them feel threatened; one can’t blame the animal, it’s only acting on instinct!!”

Leopard enters Meerut hospital, attacks patients: Video

Published on 24 Feb 2014

High alert has been sounded in Meerut city after a leopard entered a hospital Sunday. A police inspector and media person got injured when they ventured too close to the irritated leopard. The big cat was spotted by a caretaker as it was entering the hospital.

News Link:–http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10658173/Leopard-terrorises-hospital-patients-in-Indian-city-rampage.html

Hippopotamus Death in Circus Leads to Protest

It has often been said animals in circus are treated badly.  It has been recently revealed that a hippopotamus has died at Gemini Circus in Kerala.

The incident and other related incidents has led the federation of Indian animal protection organisations (FIAPO) to urge the animal welfare board of India and the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to make changes so that exploitation done to animals can be stopped.

The FIAPO has made urgent appeal to authorities concerned that protection should be extended to these animals under the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Act.  It is alleged the hippopotamus has died due to negligent attitude in the circus.

It has already been ruled out by India’s Supreme Court in 1990 that wild animals are banned in circuses.  It has been done so as a number of animals like lions, bears and panthers were facing neglect.

The ban has a positive effect on the animals and it is said that a number of lives were saved due to the same.

“We have urged the authorities to take immediate action against Gemini circus for causing the death of the hippopotamus due to their negligence”, said a spokesperson from the FIAPO.

News Link:–http://topnews.net.nz/content/228576-hippopotamus-death-circus-leads-protest

Goa to be part of Tiger Reserve complex?

KERI: Bereft of any details of wildlife in Goa, including that of big cats in the state, the ‘status of wildlife in the state of Goa’ report, nonetheless, offers a roar of support to former environment minister Jairam Ramesh‘s ‘Tiger Reserve‘ suggestion.

Referring extensively to the state’s past wildlife censuses, the report by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, states, “The tiger occupied landscape in Goa forms part of the corridor connecting Anshi-Dandeli in Karnataka and Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Goa can potentially be home to a small feeding population of tigers which would be sustained by immigrants from Anshi-Dandeli as well as Sahyadri. It would hence benefit from being incorporated as part of Tiger Reserve complex.”

The report, compiled by Bilal Habib and Gautam Talukdar of WII, has synthesized the result of the 2010 wildlife census following the MoEF-laid down protocols of phase-I of country-wide assessment of the status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India. The first census was in 2006.

The present report notes, “Goa is not a tiger range state therefore the second and third phases for nationwide monitoring programme were not carried out in Goa.” But, referring to the 2010 census that recorded the tiger’s presence in Mollem wildlife sanctuary and in the forests of Ponda and Sanguem talukas, it notes, “Tiger occupancy within the state is about 322 sq km.” It attributes this to the phase-I monitoring that reported the occupancy of six species of carnivores, with the leopard occupying the large area of 1611.28 sq km, and sloth bears, jackal, wild dog and tiger in 322 sq km.

When contacted, additional principal chief conservator of forests Richard D’Souza told TOI, “The WII report has not given specific numbers of carnivores if any, rather they have given about zoning areas.”

Amrutsingh, president, Animal Rescue Squad, Bicholim, said, “It is surprising for us that status of wildlife in the state of Goa has not mentioned anything about tiger movements, when the area has the presence of a tigress, cubs and a male tiger.”

Paresh Parob, the newly-appointed range forest officer of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary said, “We are aware about the tigers’ movements in the sanctuary and the department has taken necessary steps for the protection of the big cats.”

Times View

After years of hearing the government deny the tiger’s presence in Goa, despite the pug marks, the scats, the cattle attacks and in 2009 a very disturbing photo of a slain big cat in Keri, the Wildlife Institute of India’s report is a refreshing change. Details would have, of course, corroborated the cause vastly. It’s now left to be seen whether the government can change its own stripes on the issue.

News Link:–http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/flora-fauna/goa-to-be-part-of-tiger-reserve-complex/articleshow/14398533.cms