Thaindian News

Chandigarh, Jan 15 (IANS) Following the killing of a leopard by villagers in Haryana’s Faridabad district earlier this week, the state’s forest department Saturday issued an advisory to people not to kill wild animals protected under the Wildlife Protection Act.Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Forests, Krishna Mohan said Saturday that people have been advised to avoid surrounding any animal which comes near a village or an inhabited area.

“People have been asked not to enter into eye contact with a wild animal. In the event of an animal entering a house or farm, they have been told to give way to it and not surround it,” he said.

“Animals run away after seeing a human being. When besieged or encircled, the animals tend to attack humans,” Krishna Mohan said, quoting the advisory.

The advisory told people to light a fire or beat drums to make noise, in case they suspect that an animal was lurking around at night.

He said that besides issuance of an advisory, village heads have been tasked with the responsibility of making villagers aware of safety measures in place in their respective villages to protect people from wild animals.

“Capturing, injuring or killing a leopard is punishable with seven years’ imprisonment,” he added.

Residents of a village in Faridabad district had surrounded and beaten a leopard to death in the presence of wildlife department officials and police after the animal attacked a woman working in farms Jan 12.