Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh), Aug 10 (IANS): Forest teams have managed to trap and cage a leopard in Sadkapur village in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district, a forest official said.

It is not yet clear if the animal was one of the two maneater leopards which are believed to have attacked and killed 13 persons over the last seven months.

However, taking no chances, the forest department officials have decided against releasing the animal in the jungle. It has been decided to transfer the trapped leopard to a zoo instead, forest officials said.

Several teams of forest department officials and wildlife experts are carrying out an intensive search operation in the Bijnor jungles to identify and neutralise the leopards who have spread panic in the area.

Two leopards have been declared maneaters after the forest department officials said they were found to have killed humans and eaten their flesh.

Forest department officials said orders have been issued to kill those maneaters if attempts to neutralise them failed.