A leopard was trapped at the Bhandiguri tea estate in the Jalpaiguri Sadar block on Monday.

Local residents reported that over the past one-and-a-half months, the animal had strayed into the garden and was stealing poultry and cattle from the workers’ quarters.

A month ago, it attacked Jhantu Oraon, a worker, leaving the other workers
concerned.

This situation led the management to inform foresters, who installed a cage in
the plantations.

On Monday morning, the workers heard the leopard growling. Some of them approached the cage and found that the animal had been trapped.

A team from the Baikunthapur forest division arrived and took away the leopard. It will be kept under observation and will be released into the wild in due course, a
forester said.

“For the past one and a half months, we were spending almost sleepless nights as the leopard was walking into the labour lines for prey. We are relieved that finally it has been caged,” said Amal Nayak, a worker.