In the third such attack in three days, a leopard mauled a 60-year-old woman to death on Wednesday evening when she was working in her fields near the Sita Mata Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district. Earlier, an 18-year-old man and a four-year-old child were attacked in the region prompting the forest department to lay trap cages to capture the leopard.
Around two dozen incidents of human-animal conflict have been reported in Udaipur over the last two years and left five people dead and 15 others injured.
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Forest conservator (Udaipur) R K Khairwa said they have formed teams to capture the leopard and that the same animal probably attacked all three people. He added a healthy leopard never attacks a human. “It seems the leopard is old, unable to hunt, or is injured. There is adequate prey base in the sanctuary area,” he said, ruling out this as a cause of the attacks.
Rahul Bhatnagar, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, said there are many villages inside the sanctuary that has also been encroached upon. He added leopard attacks are rare in the sanctuary. He blamed encroachments and said they will increase the conflict. “To reduce conflicts, the prey base needs to be increased and voluntary relocation needs to be encouraged,” said Bhatnagar.
{{/usCountry}}Rahul Bhatnagar, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, said there are many villages inside the sanctuary that has also been encroached upon. He added leopard attacks are rare in the sanctuary. He blamed encroachments and said they will increase the conflict. “To reduce conflicts, the prey base needs to be increased and voluntary relocation needs to be encouraged,” said Bhatnagar.
{{/usCountry}}According to a 2015 wildlife census, there were 434 leopards in the state.