Of leopards and men- 1

My first encounter with a leopard was quite dramatic.

We were in our office in the Doors one morning when a phone call came to my senior colleague from a Manager of a nearby tea garden. He informed us that a leopard had been killed by the workers in his garden.He sounded very worried and said he was sending one of his Assistants to discuss the problem with us.

He had reasons to be worried. Leopards were ( and are ) protected animals and killing one was a punishable offence. The forest officials might as well harrass the Manager of the garden rather than confront the unionised and sometimes volatile workers when they came to know of the incident. He was the easier prey.

Troubleshooting for tea gardens was our job, though handling leopard deaths was not generally on our agenda. We could not, however, avoid the issue and leave the Manager to his fate.

We were discussing what to do when the Assistant Manager arrived in a Jipsy. He hurried to the office and told us that the workers,mainly women, were plucking in one of the tea sections when a leopard which was lurking behind a bush, suddenly sprang on a woman and wounded her severly. As the animal was mauling the woman, others tried to shoo it away. The commotion alerted other workers in the nearby labour colony who rushed in with bows and arrows and managed to kill the leopard.

We asked where the animal was at the moment and he said he had brought it along.

Dumfounded, we went to the Jipsy and found sprawled in the dicky a magnificent young beast its skin and spots glistening in the sun, obviously dead but looking as if it were just asleep.

When you have a problem and you don't know how to solve it, shove it to somebody else - that seemed to be the Manger's motto. He had got rid of the dead leopard and thought,the problem too at one stroke.

My colleague had a fertile brain and had a penchant for dramatics. While I was pondering whether we should contact the forest department or not, he came up with an idea.What an idea it was ! He advised the Assistant to return to the garden with the dead leopard, talk to the garden union leaders and arrange with their help a mini gherao of the Manager in his office with the leopard kept in front. He did so. The local leaders cooperated knowing that one or other of their members might otherwise be arrested. My colleague contacted the forest Ranger when we came to know that stage was set and told him of the gherao and the agitated workers demanding compensation from the forest department for the injured worker. They were requested to visit the the garden, pacify the workers and take the dead animal away. The Ranger was a practical man. He did not want to take any chances. If a leopard could be a victim of mob frenzy, there was no guarantee others wouldn't be. He requested us to tackle the issue ourselves and send the dead animal to their office when peace returned.

This was dutifully done and the matter ended there.