Uttarakhand villager killed leopard with sickle to save own life

Saun said this was the first time that he came across a leopard while grazing goats, which he has been doing since childhood

A 39-year-old goat grazer from Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district managed to kill a female leopard with a sickle when attacked by the wild cat while grazing goats in the village.

Naresh Singh Saun of Naini-Saini village in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh killed a leopard with a sickle (Sourced Photo)

“If I hadn’t hit it with the sickle to protect myself, I wouldn’t be alive today,” said Naresh Singh Saun of Naini-Saini village.

“The leopard emerged from the bushes and pounced on one of the goats. I tried to drive it away by making noise. But the leopard left the goat and suddenly jumped towards me. I was initially petrified. But then I realised that if I didn’t act, I would be dead,” said Saun.

Saun said he hit it with the sickle he was carrying and it worked. “The injured leopard fled but fell unconscious some distance away. The head wound from the sickle led to its death,” he said.

Saun said this was the first time that he came across a leopard while grazing goats since his childhood.

“People claim that leopards run away if an alarm is raised, but in my case, instead of running away, it attacked me. In such a situation, I had no other option but to hit it back.”

He said forest officials were later informed and they arrived at the spot immediately.

“We took the body of the leopard into our possession. It was a female leopard and we cremated it after post-mortem,” said Dinesh Joshi, ranger Pithoragarh range of forest.

The forest department were told that Saun killed the leopard in self-defence.

“Villagers revealed that if Saun hadn’t resisted with a sickle in self-defence, the leopard would have killed him. Wildlife Protection Act 1972 gives some relief in such cases where no option is left for a man for his own protection from wild animals,” said Joshi, the ranger.

Saun said he was surprised that the attack took place in the village and not in a forest. “It was never my intention to kill the leopard but it happened suddenly as I was trying to save my life,” said Saun.