NASHIK: A day after a three-year-old girl was killed by a leopard in Parmori village in Dindori taluka of Nashik district , the forest department has decided to install additional cages to trap big cats. The department has already installed 17 cages and 22 trap cameras in the area.The girl, Gayatri Gangurde, was killed while she was playing in a farm on Thursday.“The forest department staff, police and elected representatives visited the village today. Villagers are angry but the forest department cannot do much as this part of the district is conducive for leopards. We are doing as much as we can to trap the cat,” said Ganesh Gangurde, range forest officer of Dindori.The people demanded that the department trap the leopard and release it elsewhere.“It is not easy. We had laid 17 cages earlier. Our action is still going on. We have installed nine additional cages,” Gangurde said.He said that awareness was most important with care for self, children and animals. The department was creating awareness among the people.“Leopards have sufficient hiding places and lot of food outside the trap, so they do not come to the trap. In the last four months, despite installing 17 cages, we were not successful at Parmori. Our advice to people is to be careful, keep their animals secured and do not let children out in the evenings,” Gangurde said.He said there could be more than one leopard in the area as per the footage in the trap cameras.“There is the backwater of Palkhed dam , lot of water bodies, sugar cane farms, jungles, ample food to eat and places to hide. People are not going to change the cropping pattern so they will have to take utmost care,” he said.

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