Five villagers were arrested for causing damage to the Wildlife Department office in Panama, following two leopard attacks on two farmers who were doing chena cultivation inside the Panama Kudumbigala sanctuary in Ampara. Police said they also took into custody a three-wheeler, two motorcycles and a push cycle in which the villagers came to the [...]

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Angry villagers attack wildlife office after two leopard attacks kill one and injure one

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Five villagers were arrested for causing damage to the Wildlife Department office in Panama, following two leopard attacks on two farmers who were doing chena cultivation inside the Panama Kudumbigala sanctuary in Ampara.

Police said they also took into custody a three-wheeler, two motorcycles and a push cycle in which the villagers came to the Panama wildlife office to register their protest.

Other villagers said that wildlife officers paid little or no heed to their complaints and their request to provide them security after the first attack on December 30.

They said 52-year-old farmer Heen Appu Abeysinghe died in the first attack and 59-year-old farmer P Premathilaka died in the second attack which took place when he went to switch on the electric fence at the village bordering the sanctuary. He is being treated at the Pothuvil hospital.

Rejecting the charges, National Park warden R.A.B.D.D, Samaranayake told the Sunday Times the department had deployed two teams and set up cameras and steel cages to capture the leopard which attacked the farmers. He said they even sought the army’s assistance.

He said once the leopard was caught, they would relocate it in an area within the sanctuary so that it would not cross path with villagers.

Asked why the villagers were allowed to carry out chena cultivation within the sanctuary, the warden said the villagers were farming in an 800-acre area within the park, claiming that had been tilling the area for generations. Even though they farm for three months during the year, the park’s animals roam in the area, he said.

Mr. Samaranayake said  farmers who came within the home range of a leopard were inviting trouble as the animal would view them as a threat or a prey. Besides, certain actions of the farmers – like hunting and cooking the meat of the hunted animal or fish within the sanctuary – were also to be blamed for the leopard’s attacks.

The warden said the villagers should have cooperated with the wildlife officials instead of attacking the office.

Commenting on the incident, he said if not for the presence of Special Task Force and police personnel, the villagers would have burned the wildlife office. None of the officers was hurt during the incident but the building sustained damages, he said.

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