Deogarh: After a gap of two years, the ‘mysterious animal’ surfaced again in Chakadihi village under Barkot block in Deogarh district, late Sunday night.
A herd of 12 goats was found dead in the village Monday morning.
Reports said that many goats were injured in the attack by the unidentified animal. The incident occurred late Saturday night, but it became public after locals spotted the carcasses of the animals Monday morning. The ‘unknown’ animal had fed on the intestine of the goats.
According to a source, the goats had gone to graze in the nearby forest Saturday. However, they did not return, prompting the villagers to go into the forest to look for them. In the wee hours of Monday, they found carcasses 12 goats and three other animals with multiple injury marks on their bodies.
The villagers said that more than 25 goats are still missing.
According to the shepherds of the village, they had gone out for grazing their goats to a nearby jungle. They left their sheep and goats on one side of the jungle and went for collecting some jungle flowers.
Around 5 pm Saturday they heard an unusual sound coming from the place where they had left their herds. When they reached the spot the goats got panicked after seeing something and ran astray.
As it was night the shepherds returned to the village after being clueless about the missing goats.
People of the area suspect involvement of some wild animal behind the killings.
On being informed, Barkot forest range officials reached Chakadihi village to take stock of the situation.
As many as two CCTV cameras have been installed to keep a check on the movement of the wild animals.
Notably, in 2017, a large number of sheep were killed under mysterious circumstances in Niali area of Cuttack district.
PNN