Leopard trapped in Chandor

Chandorkars have been living with the leopard for quite a long time now. People have been losing their pets to the leopards for many years now. In fact leopards have been spotted at various occasions not only on the hillock at Ghottmorod but even at Oilem Tollem.

However, for the first time now, on 17th July a leopard was trapped in Chandor at Molla just behind the house of Sita Antao where incidentally the trap was laid for the third time in three years.

What was trapped is a baby leopard which according to the forest officials is about a two year old female. Sita’s husband Bernardo Mascarenhas says he saw two leopards earlier and one entered the trap. Their maid claims that in the night when she peeped out of the window she could see the trapped leopard in the cage and another outside.

For the last three years Sita has been facing a lot of problems with the leopard prowling near her house. She has lost her innumerable fowls, dogs and cats to the leopards including a much loved Persian cat recently. In fact a few days back, the leopard leaped in front of their vehicle and was running ahead while they followed it in the vehicle in a true safari style.

At Ghottmorod Andrew D’Silva has been literally living with the leopards as they have been visiting his house regularly. Andrew has lost innumerable pigs including nursing sows and calves to the leopards. In fact the leopards apparently climb the trees near his house and even rest there during the nights. Traps laid for the leopard at his house many times failed to produce any results.

In fact a couple of years back, a leopard had caught a weimaraner dog belonging to John Douglas Coutinho. However, his worker attacked the leopard and hit it on its nose which made the leopard release the dog. In more recent times, leopards have been regularly visiting some houses at Bindimoll including those near the new restaurant O Cuzinero.

This is the first time that a leopard has been trapped in Chandor even though earlier carcasses of leopards were found in the village indicating that someone had killed them

Incidentally, a lot of wild animals are now visiting Chandor. A fully grown crocodile was caught a few years back at the house of Martin at Bindimoll while earlier a baby crocodile was caught at Villa Formosa.

Pleasant wildlife like peacocks and peahens also abound in the village. In fact it is quite common to see these majestic birds feasting in the fields near Alma Khuris when the crop is ready for harvesting and they can be heard in their full glory around the Oilem Tollem area.

Besides, of course monkeys are seen in practically all parts of Chandor including Cotta. In fact two years back a rogue monkey that was troubling a lot of people in Molla was trapped behind Tiago Miranda’s house. However, as the forest officials were lifting the cage to take him away, the monkey leaped high and banged his head to commit suicide.