Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 10 (IANS): A seven-year-old leopard that was trapped by forest officials, has been translocated to the Pilibhit tiger reserve (PTR) and safely released in the Mahof forest range.

The leopard had killed a 10-year-old boy in the Haliyapur village in Bijnor district near the Amangarh tiger reserve (ATR), a few days back.

The leopard had been terrorising the people in the area and had injured many in the past 15 days.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of ATR M.Semmaran said, "We succeeded in trapping the leopard after placing a cage with a live bait at a spot it was known to frequent."

The DFO said the decision of releasing the leopard in a forest region other than Bijnor, was taken to wipe out possibilities of its re-straying from the wild into an area which it was familiar with.

Before releasing it, a medical examination was conducted by the veterinary officer of PTR, Dr. Daksh Gangwar, who along with his team had escorted the leopard from Bijnor to PTR.

"The leopard was said to be seven years old and was healthy without any physical injury or deformity. It was found fit for release in the forest," said the veterinary officer.