46-year-old killed by leopard in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh

The leopard dragged her to the forest area and ate her body parts. Her head was found severed from her body.

A 46-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard in Kapri village, around 35 km from the Pithoragarh town in Uttarakhand. At least six people have lost their lives to leopard attacks in Pithoragarh alone since September last year. Authorities are looking for permission to catch the leopard responsible for the recent death, said officials.

The image shows the leopard roaming around. (ANI)

“Forest officials rushed to the spot on the information and recovered the mangled body of the woman from the forest area. We have handed over the woman’s body to her family members after post-mortem on Friday, said Navin Pant, sub-divisional officer, Pithoragarh forest division.

Pant said Kalawati Devi of Kapri village in Kanalichinna area had gone to her field to collect fodder on Thursday evening but didn’t return.

“Her family members and villagers launched a search for her in the nearby forests. Finally, they found her mangled body around 1.5 km from the agricultural field,” he said.

Pant said the leopard dragged her to the forest area and ate her body parts. Her head was found severed from her body, he added.

“An ex-gratia relief of ₹20,000 has been handed over to the deceased’s relatives on Friday. Rest of the amount will be given after we receive the post-mortem report. We have sought permission for catching the leopard from chief wildlife warden,” Pant added.

He said the forest officials were also carrying a cage to the village where the incident took place but it will be installed only after they get the permission.

More than half-a-dozen persons have lost their lives in leopard attacks in Pithoragarh since September. Two leopards have been eliminated during this period, forest officials said.

A 45-year-old woman was killed by a tiger on the morning of February 11 in Ramnagar of Nainital district. Earlier, a 60-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard in Khatima of US Nagar on February 6. On January 20, a 50-year-woman was killed by a leopard in Almora district, making it the fourth incident of man-animal conflict in the area. On December 1, a 65-year-old man was killed by a leopard in Chamoli district. In the first week of November, a 21-year-old woman was killed in a leopard attack in Champawat district. Three women including a teen lost their lives to leopard attacks in a week in October in Okhalkanda block of Nainital. On October 15, an 11-year-old girl was killed by a leopard in Jaspur area in US Nagar district when she was playing with her siblings outside her house.