The villagers of Dillabari area of Tingkong revenue circle in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district killed a leopard and consumed its meat on Friday.

According to the villagers, the leopard has been creating terror in Charaideo district at Sapekhati’s Atal Randhali village for the past several months.

“The leopard attacked and injured five persons in the area and took away livestock. The leopard entered Dillibari after crossing the Disang and the people were afraid to go out of their home after dusk,” a villager said.

Sources said the local residents laid a trap and killed the leopard and distributed the meat among the villagers. This is not the first time that such an incident has happened in Assam.

A section of people believes that consuming leopard meat cures them of diseases.

However, man-animal conflict has been rising rapidly because of shrinking of forest cover.

“We have got information that a leopard was killed and the villagers consumed the meat. Leopards come out of the forest in search of food and enter human habitation. We have tried to create awareness among the villagers about the importance of leopards in the eco-system and asked them to avoid killing them,” said a forest official.

According to the official, large numbers of leopards are present in the Upper Assam tea garden areas and these can be seen during the day as well.

Recently, five leopards were caged by the forest department from Dikom tea estate of Dibrugarh district.