UP: Leopard suspected of killing 8-year-old girl captured

A leopard believed to be responsible for the death of an eight-year-old girl was captured early Friday morning near a village under the North Nighasan forest range of the Dudhwa buffer zone, officials said. The big cat was trapped in a cage set up in a sugarcane field using bait, forest officials said. They suspect this is the same leopard that attacked and killed Preet Kaur on October 8 while she was returning home with her aunt. Following the incident, the forest department intensified patrolling and monitoring in the area, deploying multiple cages and camera traps to locate and capture the animal. Forest Range Officer Bhupendra Singh confirmed the capture and said that images and pugmarks collected on October 9 matched those of the trapped animal. The leopard is a male, estimated to be between six and seven years old. The animal has been transported to the range headquarters for a medical examination. A final decision regarding its relocation or release at an appropriate location would be made following the completion of the veterinary assessment, Singh added.