A leopard was trapped at the Kanthaldhura tea estate in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri district on Saturday, the second to be caged in the garden in the span of 72 hours.

On Thursday, another leopard was similarly trapped at the plantations ofKanthaldhura.

Sources said that during the past few days, this particular leopard, which was caged on Saturday, was sighted on and off in the garden.

It had also reportedly taken away poultry and cattle from the tea workers’ quarters which had led to panic across the garden.

Workers and residents of the garden informed foresters at the Khunia forest range, who, in turn, put up a cage in the garden.

On Saturday, the leopard walked into the cage andwas trapped.

As the leopard started growling, local residents rushed to the spot and found the animal inside the cage.

After some time, foresters went to the spot and took the animal to the leopard rescue centre in Lataguri. The animal will be provided with primary treatment and then released into the Gorumara National Park, said Sajal Kumar Dey, the range officer of Khunia forest range.

The influx of leopards in tea gardens suggests that food sources are drying up in their natural habitats.

Pangolin scales

A team of foresters of the Jaldapara wildlife division in Alipurduar arrested a Bhutanese national on Saturday and recovered pangolin scales and skin from him.

Sources said that there were reports that Deo Bahadur Limbo of Kalapanibusty, which is in Gomtu under the Samtse district of Bhutan, would frequently visit some of the villages on the fringes of the Jaldapara National Park as a dealer of body parts of wild animals.

On Thursday, a team led by the range officer of Jaldapara (west) rangeintercepted Limbo.

As they frisked him, some pangolin scales and skin were found on him.

“He will be produced in court tomorrow (Sunday). We need to interrogate him to gather more information, as it seems that he is linked with a racket that deals in body parts of wild animals,” said Parveen Kaswan, the divisional forest officer of the Jaldapara wildlife division.