Villagers seek help over panther menace

KUALA PILAH: Residents of a village here have appealed to the Negeri Sembilan Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) to search for what is believed to be a panther that has been attacking their livestock since the end of October.

The latest encounter of the residents, from Kampung Tengah Ulu, Tanjung Ipoh, with the big cat occurred at 12.45 am today when several villagers and policemen from the Tanjung Ipoh station were on patrol duty in the village.

Village Community Management Council chairman Hasmeon Mat Arbak said they saw what they thought were pug marks of the panther and one of their torchlights picked out a pair of orange eyes at an abandoned orchard about 50 metres away.

“The animal ran off upon seeing us,” he told Bernama.

He also said that the sighting of the pug marks was the first after the villagers had reported on Oct 30 that the panther had killed livestock.

“I have received three reports of villagers coming across the panther. Some have reported seeing it crossing the road at night as they travelled on motorcycles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan Perhilitan director Wan Mat Wan Harun said the department is closely monitoring the area with a camera installed near a tiger trap set up on Nov 14 as well as by using a lamb as a bait.

-- BERNAMA