A wild male leopard was trapped on the Haldibari tea estate in Banarhat of Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday.

Sources said in the past few days, the residents and the managerial staff of the garden had felt the presence of a leopard in the plantation. Also, the big cat had mauled a garden worker a couple of days back.

The foresters of Binnaguri said after the incident they had laid a cage with bait at the plantation area. “On Wednesday morning, the residents could hear growls of the animal. They went near the cage and found that the animal had been trapped,” said Subhasish Roy, range officer of the squad.

“We soon went to the spot and the animal was taken away from the garden later in the day. The big cat will be kept under observation and released in the forest in due course,” Roy added.

Jumbo raids

A wild elephant entered Subhashpally area of Birpara in Alipurduar district around 9pm on Tuesday and mauled a woman.

Sources said Nisha Pal suffered an injury in the chest as she fell into a roadside drain after the jumbo nudged her. She is under treatment.

A team from Dalgaon forest range managed to steer the elephant back into the forest later in the night.

Also, another wild elephant came out of the Pana forest range of Buxa Tiger Reserve in Alipurduar and damaged three workers’ quarters at the Chinchula tea estate.

The foresters drove the animal back to the forest and no injury or casualty was reported.