Gandhinagar: Amid the frequent incidents of attack on people by leopards, the state government has decided to seek permission for castration/emasculation of such male beasts to control their rising population in the forests across the western state.

A forest official today said that the permission has been sought from the central government/forest department so that the population of such beasts could be controlled.

‘As per the latest census of leopards almost 1400 such beasts are present in Gujarat of whom a little over 350 are in Junagadh district alone,’ he said adding that the Wildlife Act provides for castration of beasts under permission of the competent authorities.

He said that among other reasons, it has also come to fore that due to the rising numbers, the leopards were moving out in human inhabited areas in search of foods and ultimately the man-animal conflict is happening.

He added that on getting nod from center, the castrations of some of the male leopard would be done in scientific manner.

Notably, several incidents of attacks of leopards on human beings has been reported in Gujarat in recent times and many of these had resulted in loss of human lives as well. The forest department had to take up several operations to catch or eliminate some of the man-eater leopards.

DeshGujarat

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