NEWSLINK: With 38 trapped in 10 years, Vareli farm turns into leopard sanctuary

If you count the number of leopards caught here, this orchard in Vareli village is enough to host a mini leopard safari in Mandvi taluka of Surat district. It isn't so, rues owner Sohel Shaikh, from whose farm the 38th big cat was trapped on Thursday, thereby, breaking its own previous record in the past 10 years.


Vareli is the same village where a leopard was shot by the forest department in 2011 on suspicion of it turning into a man-eater. Shaikh, 24, who manages the farm, lived at his farm at night to ensure crop security besides farm infrastructure. But not any more. He started satying at his home in Vareli at night since the past four years after he spotted eight leopards prowling on his farm in one single night.

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