A signboard to warn people in the Wilton division of Dikom tea estate. A Telegraph picture

Sept. 4: “Beware of tigers. Don’t loiter alone in the garden,” reads a signboard nailed to a tree in Dikom tea estate.

Further down, another signboard appears, bearing the same warning.

With four children being dragged away by leopards from the garden in the past three years, and virtually no help from the forest department to rein in the menace, this was the least Dikom’s management could do.

Leopards from the forests that surround the gardens stray into human habitats in search of food and latch on to anything that looks like an easy prey.

The garden management sent several applications and petitions to the Dibrugarh divisional forest office for compensation, but all the pleas went unheeded.

“Forget about compensation, the forest department officials are so unco-operative, they never turn up when there is a leopard on our estate. Now we have stopped calling them. Instead, we have built two iron cages and six leopards have been caged in the past couple of years,” said Bhaskar Pathak, assistant manager of Wilton division of Dikom tea estate, owned by Rossell Industries.

It is a similar story in the nearby gardens of Maijan, Ethelwood and Chabua, to name a few.

“Earlier, leopards used to stray into gardens, but with jungles being cleared at an alarming rate, the leopards have now taken to killing cows and goats,” a manager at Maijan tea estate said.

The Wilton division of the garden, which is close to the Chabua air base of the Air Force, has had the worst share of man-leopard conflicts.

Just a year ago, two children were killed and several injured in leopard attacks.

“Nearly three or four years back, huge parts of forest land, which was under the Air Force, was cleared for the extension of runways. The enhanced night operations and the sound of jets made it impossible for the leopards to stay in the area. They then began venturing into our gardens. Angry labourers began attacking managers, demanding action. Since the forest department failed to provide help, we decided to find a solution on our own,” Rajen Baruah, the manager of Dikom tea estate, said.

The garden management has not only built its own cages, but has also found its own “tiger man” in Joydhan Pator, a labourer of the garden.

Pator, 53, helped cage six leopards, using goats as baits.

“I can smell their presence. I pray before I set up the cage and put the bait inside,” Pator said. The leopards are later released in Joypur reserve forest.

There are at least 20 leopards, including cubs, in the garden, said Pator.

“When we return from the factory in the evening, we often find leopards crossing the road. That’s why we have put up signboards in vulnerable areas, urging people not to venture out alone after sunset. In most cases, leopards attack people when they are alone,” Bhaskar Phukon, an assistant manager, said.