Baripada, May 3: Residents of Thakurmunda in the buffer region of Similipal Tiger Reserve are in a state of panic with a leopard moving around in the area.

The villagers have seen the animal that has strayed into Bholasahi village and killed six goats.

"Instances of leopards sneaking into human settlements are not new to the area. The number of preys in the deep forest areas has declined and this is why the predators are forced to straying into villages in search of food," said M.S. Nanda, a wildlife activist of Karanjia.

"Earlier, a Royal Bengal tiger caused havoc and had killed around 15 cattle in two months and now, it is a leopard. The villagers are very worried. The authorities must take steps immediately to drive away the leopard or the villagers may try to kill the animal," he said.

The Karanjia forest division, under which Thakurmunda falls, said it was on alert and monitoring the movement of the animal. The leopard had attacked eight goats that belonged to Champai Balmuchur, killed six and injured two.

Divisional forest officer of Karanjia Asish Kumar Behera said: "This is a leopard and it has been seen by the villagers. While we have advised the villagers to keep their livestock in secured places, we are keeping a tab of the animal's movement. The earlier one was a Royal Bengal Tiger and it had targeted cattle in the Baliabeda forest under Satkosia range."