A farm-house owner in Aravali Hills in Delhi’s National Capital Region is said to have lured a leopard with a live bait, stoking fears about the vulnerability of the wildlife population living the fringes of cities.

As reported by Mail Today and published in Yahoo India:

“According to activists, farmhouse owners allegedly take advantage of legal lacunae to construct private properties in the Aravali forest which comes under the category of Gair Mumkin Pahad ( non- cultivable land) and then apply for Change of Land Use ( CLU) on the grounds that their properties have already been cultivable land.

“And once the construction on a farmhouse begins, they secure the compound with electric fences. The method has proved fatal for wild animals which try to stray into the compound. The villagers believe that the number of dead leopards could be much higher in the Aravali region than what the officials records show.

“According wildlife officials, a leopard was found dead inside a golf resort last year and people were jostling to take photos with it. The officials also unearthed skeletal remains of three more big cats during investigation in and around the golf course premises six months later.

“Yet they don”t have a clear idea on the number of leopards residing in the region.”