Lioness trapped by Gujarat forest department
Vadodara, Feb 26 (PTI) The forest department has entrapped an Asiatic lioness which mauled to death a three-year-old girl at Dudhala village in Maliya tehsil of Junagadh, a forest official said.
“After 20-hours of search and trace operation, the Junagadh forest department team succeeded in trapping and caging the lioness in Drapad village in Maliya last night,” said an official from Gujarat Forest Department.
Anjali Rathod was mauled to death by the lioness at Dudhala village on the night of February 24.
The girl and her grand-mother were in the field when the lioness caught the child in its jaws and dragged her through some distance.
The child suffered serious injuries on head and back and the doctors at the nearby hospital, where she was taken, declared her brought dead.
Soon after the incident the forest department placed two cages in the village to capture the lioness. A team of officials, with one cage attached to their vehicle, kept vigil in the area to locate the big cat.
“We received a call from head of Drapada village last evening around 7 informing that a lioness has been sighted in the area. The team rushed to the spot and captured it,” said an official.
“The veterinary doctor accompanying the team examined it and found that the lioness was suffering from some illness and so it was shifted to animal care centre at Sasangir,” the official said.
Forest department officials have confirmed that it is the same lioness that attacked and killed the child.
