The leopard, possibly from the Gangarampur Tea Garden, lurked behind the Rangapani Cancer Hospital.
Siliguri, West Bengal:
In a shocking incident near Siliguri in North Bengal, an adult leopard was brutally beaten by forest workers and then shot dead. The incident took place Wednesday night in Phansidewa, on the outskirts of Siliguri.
The leopard, possibly from the nearby Gangarampur Tea Garden, was lurking behind the heavily forested backyard of the Rangapani Cancer Hospital, when a man entered the area and was attacked and injured around 6:30 p.m.
Three teams from the forest department arrived on the scene, including a special task force, to capture the leopard. They tried to reassure him, but apparently they failed.
After shooting the leopard with the tranquilizer, the field officer was apparently approaching the animal when he bit it on the ankle.
Forest workers then pounced on the leopard and began beating it with rods in a horrific way, visible in a locally filmed video that has gone viral.
In its statement about the incident, the forest department does not mention the beating. Instead, it says in a press release that “the forest staff opened fire in self-defense and in the process the leopard died.”
The forest department has said the field officer is out of the woods. The leopard had attacked two other people who were also treated for minor injuries and are out of harm’s way.
However, certain questions have been raised about the incident. After calming the leopard, did forest workers capture the leopard? If they had, he would not have been able to attack the ranger. The way he was beaten up by the alleged forest workers has also raised questions about the department’s handling of the incident.
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