Forest and police personnel give a standout demonstration on how to hold down a leopard on the loose in Mysore.
The full-grown cat, which appeared on the Chamundi Hill road on Tuesday morning, attacking and injuring five persons including international equesterian Arun Mariba Shetty, later died at the Mysore zoo, allegedly due to the mishandling of the animal after it was “rescued”.
Star of Mysore reports that the leopard terrorised and entertained hundreds of onlookers for over four-and-a-half hours. But is this all the equipment, expertise and technology that “trained” personnel have at their disposal when faced with an emergency?
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
These incompetents must not only be fired, they should also be prosecuted to the full extent allowed by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 and the Wildlife Act of 1972.
The unfortunate animal found not a compassionate savior but a terrorist in the Forest Department. To me, our treatment of animals puts our very civilization is at stake.
Shame on the Karnataka Forest Department!
This is not the first time a wild animal was manhandled and brutally killed.
The forest department needs to realise what their job is, the news report states they got to the scene nearly 3 hours after the leopard was spotted.
It is so sad to see such a beautiful animal get slaughtered by careless humans.
Please do not carry pictures like this. It is depressing to see it. Yes, sadly, this is all that we have got to handle an emergency unless of course the emergency involved some VIPs or son/daughters of VIPs…Damnn it.
What is surprising is that people want to stand and look at the cat even though they know it might attack and kill them. Why can’t they stay indoors till the forest department finally decides to show up?
Similar thing happened in Mangalore a few years ago. The ‘rescued’ animal died in a day due to all the injuries and trauma!
It’s unbelievable how our ‘trained’ forest dept offcial handle the situation. If this is the case with bigger cities like Mysore and mangalore, imagine Belthangady or Kollegala!
The animal died.
The bastards killed it with their lathis.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep172008/scroll2008091790469.asp?section=updatenews
Sad…really sad. God save the great cats of India.
Didn’t the animal get emergency treatment ? State of art emergency treatment picture is posted at http://nadunudi.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/and-we-all-fall-down/
Two days and two leopards are gone. The other day it was Ramanagara due to the trap laid by farmers and the lethargy of the Forest Dpt. But it was little more barbaric in Mysore. The men in the picture are squeezing out the last traces of oxygen out of the scared animal and the policeman is giving the usual third degree treatment which they are so capable of. Instead of allowing hundreds of people to gather around and watch the ‘entertainment’ (so sick of the eveninger to use this word), the ‘trained’ police should have disbursed the crowd and allowed the Forest/Zoo people to take care of the situation. But they failed to do so and allowed people to watch as if it was some circus show going on. It is very disgraceful of all those involved who could not save the animal. Any sane person in that crowd would not have allowed people to get closer to the leopard and expose themselves to the danger. But covering the event, filming or taking photographs have become more important nowadays than saving a life.
very disturbing….
Whats the difference between killing a goat, chicken and leopard?
While condemning terrorism of any kind the posting is absolutely right. The media is scared of Hindu fundamentlists.
What do we do with someone like Pramod Mutahlik who publicaly announces that he is training a hindu army fo suicide bombers? ( See http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep152008/state2008091490030.asp)
Would the govt had kept quiet if any muslim leader had announced in a similar manne in public? He would have been branded a terrorist and put in jail. Why not for Muthalik
References to Hindu Fundamentalists and Muthalik is irrelevant and out of context here.
To answer your questions, refer to the spate of bombs across Mum/Hyd/Blr/Jai/Ahd/ND. what action has the govt taken to ensure that the perpetuators are punished and citizens are protected?
Take the case of the recent stand off on the Amarnath issue..while the entire J&K was burning, what did the govt do? was it not blatantly communal and overtly appeasing the muslims..those who are living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others
ananda gudi,
Govt has no guts to hang afsal.
Veggie,
Domestic animals have gained as a result of man. Goat and chicken are two animals which are numerous as a species because of man. There is no chance of them going extinct as long as man lives. The leopard on the other hand isnt. Killing one is sending a species closer to extinction.
Anonymous Guy….
A good but a vain attempt at defending the choice of a non-veggie. How about human beings… we are in billions… so war is fine… ahahaaaa…
Veggie…
A very nice and subtle point made.
KannadaKanda,
How about mosquitoes, house flys and bacterium? How about the billions of insects and other pests killed while growing the veggies and fruits that you eat? ahhhahaha
You can take it to any extreme you want…
The over enthusiasm of the people, the careless attitude of the police and the forest officials, inexperienced staff, lack of patience, inability to handle the situation – all these things caused the death of the animal. And it has happened in the vicinity of the police quarters. Trying to capture its photos when it entered one of the quarters shows the sheer carelessness and lack of commom sense regarding the wild life. And remember it took nearly four hours, and by that time the animal had been completely exhausted. And if proper care and precaution had been taken it could have been driven to its habitat, the nearby Chamundi Hills. Bringing about politics and political people is ridiculous here!
My god…. I can feel the pain here….. Shame on the forest dept… Pls learn some lesson on conservation and save our own forest and wildlife. This was just 2.5 year old kid…. :( Very very painful to see this image.
Today we raised a voice in Mysore. Pls join hands with us. Lets save Chamundi hill forest from these people….
I hope the skin is kept accounted for…next someone will make a cool buck selling it! lol…
once again, the ugly face of man animal conflict come up…it is indeed sad and unfortunate that the captured leopard was beaten by clubs and lathis by both the police and members of public whom i feel are complete idiots…the police should have cordoned off the area…it clearly shows that both the police and the forest department personnel are inept at handling situations..
i really hope the people responsible for the killing of this poor animal be suspended from their posts..
and please do something to check the encroachments around chamundi hill…
Anonymous Guy,
You made the exact comment I thought you would and I wanted you to.
I kill pests because they threaten to harm me !! Simple. Its a question of survival. Any living being does strike back when attached. Leopard struck back. Men struck back at the leopard. What point we are missing here is the lack of sophistication in capturing the leopard. I really wonder if these guys have guns which shoot tranquilizers. Probably all of us are as good as our training and the tools we use.
But all comments here go tangentially trying to curse the officials…
KannadaKanda,
How did the insect killed by pesticides harm you? How is it any different from the chicken or goat I eat?
Stick to vegetables and fruit. The rest of the world will eat meat.
many a times like Veggie I thought. What if there were a few dinosaurs left and we were trying to save ’em from extinction?!
Insects, bacterium…….yes , look at their numbers and decide for yourself. In the case of leopard it had strayed into the nearby area,may be on Sunday mornings you can see meat is being sold on the nearby place for the customers are mostly from the nearby police quarters. The animal instinct in the leopard may have seen it. Stray dogs are also there in plenty. In such a situation if it had been allowed in the place where it was hiding , I think, much damage could have been averted. Sheer carelessness, over=enthusiasm did the damage. And the way it was handled after it was caught – if you look at the pictures – tells the sad story!