Leopards on prowl, Guj farmer & 6 kids sleep in 8x6ft cage
21.01.2025
Ahmedabad : Desperate to protect his six children from leopards prowling Japodar village in Gujarat’s Amreli district, a farmer has chosen to cage his family. Every night, Bariya sleeps with his kids—five daughters and a three month-old son— inside an 8x6-ft iron cage, huddling together within the metal bars. The ‘human cage’—the only solution Bariya could come up with to save themselves from becoming prey—is a stark symbol of human-wildlife conflict in rural Amreli, which has a large population of lions and leopards. “One day, my daughters asked me what would happen if a leopard attacked them. That question shook me to my core, and I decided to build this cage where we now sleep together. The safety of my children haunts me constantly. The house in our field is not strong enough to protect them. After losing their mother, I am all they have. My elderly parents can barely hear anymore and though my sister-in-law helps car e for the children, the threat remains,” Bariya said. TNN
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