Uttarakhand: ‘Man-eater’ leopard that killed 25-year-old man shot dead

HT Correspondent

A man-eating leopard that recently killed a 25-year-old man in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district was shot dead early Sunday, officials said.

The forest department had been trying to capture the leopard for the past week after the animal killed a man and attacked a few other people in the area. (Representational Photo)

Dharam Singh Meena, the divisional forest officer (DFO) of Narendra Nagar forest division, said, “A seven-year-old leopard was shot dead by hunter Joy Hukil in the early morning on Sunday. The leopard was declared a man-eater after it had killed a man in Devprayag on August 29.”

The forest department had been trying to capture the leopard for the past week after the animal killed a man and attacked a few other people in the area.

“We had installed cages to capture the leopard and set up camera traps to track its movement. The pictures helped identify the leopard and it was shot dead in the early morning on Sunday. The animal had become old and was looking for easy prey,” Meena added.

Earlier on July 11, a man-eater leopard, which had killed a girl (12) in Chamoli district, was shot dead in Badrinath forest division.

Ashutosh Singh, the DFO of Badrinath division, had said that the leopard was declared a man-eater on June 30, a day after its second kill.

A chief wildlife warden of a state can declare any wild animal a threat to human life and fit to be killed by invoking Clause 11 (1) (a) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

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