Thrissur: In yet another wild animal attack, a calf was found half-eaten by a leopard on Thursday early morning at Palappilly, about 30 km away from Thrissur. The one-and-a-half-year-old calf owned by Madakkal Majeed was found dead when the family went to milk the cow. The officials from the Palappilly Range Forest Office reached the spot after learning about the incident and confirmed the presence of the leopard in the area. “The incident occurred around 2 am. The residents had tied the cow and the calf just outside the house, which is very close to the PWD road. They heard the bleating of the calf, however, they didn’t come out of the house fearing it was an elephant attack. The area is frequented by the wild elephants,” said Varandarappilly Grama Panchayat vice president and Palappilly ward member Jalal MB.
Jalal said that another calf owned by Elikode Assainar was killed by a leopard, assumed to be the same wild animal two days ago. Last week, a pet dog owned by Sulochana residing in Palappilly was also killed by a wild animal after breaking its wooden crate. “According to forest officials, it is an aged leopard and it is attacking pet animals as it cannot hunt down its prey,” Jalal said. For the past few months, the Palappilly area has been witnessing frequent attacks from wild animals. Earlier this week, a herd of about 20 elephants while crossing the road near Pillathode Bridge charged at the motorists out of no provocation. No one was injured as the motorists were able to run away. In September, a plantation worker at the Kundayi estate, 58-year-old Ayyappan, was injured on his face, hand and leg in an elephant attack
In May last year, a calf owned by Kundayi Koorikkil Aleema was killed by a leopard following which the forest officials tried to trace the wild cat. In September 2022, a forest watcher and a member of the forest department’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) Hussain Kalpur succumbed to injuries in a wild elephant attack. The RRT was on a mission to chase away a herd of wild elephants into the forest using two kumki elephants. Following the attack, the mission had to be withdrawn. The Palappilly residents have been demanding urgent intervention of authorities to chase away the elephant herds from the area. Their demand to construct electric fencing along the forest borders and trenches is yet to be fulfilled by the authorities.
