Bahraich: A man was trapped inside a cage placed to capture a leopard in Uttar Pradesh‘s Bahraich district, officials said on Friday.
The incident occurred on Thursday night in Umri Dehalo village of the Fakhrpur area when Pradeep, a local resident, entered the trap allegedly in an intoxicated state. As soon as he stepped inside, the automatic door shut, leaving him locked in.
Trapped, the youth shouted for help and contacted the villagers using his phone. The village head informed the forest department and the police.
A joint team of forest officials and police reached the spot, and it took nearly two hours to safely pull out the youth. He was taken to the police station and let off with a warning, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ram Singh Yadav told PTI.
Yadav said the man appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. “It is unclear why he entered the trap, whether out of curiosity or due to some other reason, but his act was certainly wrong. Nights are the peak activity time for leopards. While we advise villagers to stay indoors, someone wandering into the most dangerous zone risks a wildlife attack,” he added.
A 55-year-old woman, Shanti Devi, was killed in a leopard attack on Wednesday evening. To capture the leopard, a trap was set up on the outskirts of the village with a goat tied inside as bait, the DFO said.
