Elderly man killed by leopard in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district

A 65-year-old man was killed in a leopard attack on Monday in Chamoli district, forest officials said.

The man was attacked by the leopard on his way to the market on Monday morning in Joshimath block of the district.

After the attack, locals present at the spot made a noise due to which the leopard went back to the forest area, but angry locals protested till evening with the deceased’s body on the road.

JS Suhag, chief wildlife warden of the Uttarakhand forest department said, “I have ordered to install cages in the area to try to capture the leopard. This is the second incident of an attack by a leopard from the area. A few days ago a Nepali worker was attacked by a leopard.”

The senior forest official said that the leopard will be declared a man-eater if any further attacks take place.

This is not the first such attack to be reported from the state, where human-leopard conflict has been increasing. In the first week of November a 21-year-old woman was killed in a leopard attack in Champawat district.

Three women, including a teenager lost their lives in a week in October in Okhalkanda block of Nainital.

On October 21, a 13-year-old girl was killed in a leopard attack in Nainital district when she was going to the forest to cut grass. 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.

On October 14, a 40-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard in Pithoragarh district when she had gone to the forests to cut grass.