Schools record zero attendance as leopard attacks rise

Not a single student turned up at primary and upper primary school in Jhawwa village of Balrampur district on Saturday. The village streets bore a desolate look as not a villager dared to venture out of the safe confines of huts. Even fields, that remained abuzz with activities till a week back, too remained untilled. Similar scenes were evident in Beninagar, Jhawwa and Madrahwa villages.
The rising frequency of ferocious leopard and tiger attacks has brought life to a standstill in Beninagar, Madhrahwa and Jhawwa villages situated on the outskirts of Katarniaghat reserve forest area and Soheldeo Wildlife Sanctuary.
Following recent leopard attacks on kids and youths, the forest department has placed a cage on the school campus to trap the feline. This has compounded the fears of villagers, who have now refused to send their wards to school. Several villagers, including Chinke, Ramniwas, Manse, Dhaniram and Subrati, told TOI that fear of leopard attack prevented them from sending their kids to school.
Villagers of Nighasen forest beat in Lakhimpur-Kheri too have stopped going to fields. Though neither a tiger was spotted nor any attack was reported on Saturday, several villagers had spotted tigers roaming in the fields along with its cubs on Friday. A week ago, Bhagauti Prasad of Adlabad had tied his horse near Saunakala forest as he took his cattle for grazing. The horse was later killed by a tiger which also attacked cattle of another villager Puttilal.
However, forest department has maintained that no tiger had ventured out of the jungle and cattle were attacked only when the herd moved into the forest. Forest ranger Ranveer Mishra said that tigers were being regularly monitored.