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Man-eater leopard shot dead in Uttarakhand
Ashutosh Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO) for Badrinath division said that the leopard was declared a ‘man-eater’ on June 30, a day after its second kill.
A ‘man-eater’ leopard who killed a 12-year-old girl last week in Chamoli district was shot dead in Uttarakhand’s Badrinath forest division on Saturday.
Ashutosh Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO) for Badrinath division said that the leopard was declared a ‘man-eater’ on June 30, a day after its second kill. This is the first ‘man-eater’ leopard killed this year in Badrinath forest division.
“On June 29, when the leopard made its second kill, I wrote to the chief wildlife warden requesting the leopard to be declared a man-eater. The permission for this was received on June 30. On Saturday, the leopard was shot by shooters hired by the forest department at Narayanbagar range of Badrinath forest division,” Singh said.
The leopard had first killed a person on May 28 in Gairbaram area of the division, the DFO said.
On July 8, a leopard which killed a two-year-old child in Udal area of Almora forest division, was also declared a ‘man-eater’ by the state forest department. The department has roped in two hunters from Uttar Pradesh to hunt down the ‘man-eater’ leopard that killed two people in two days this week, said forest officials.
60-year-old attacked by leopard in Nainital dies
In a separate incident, a 60-year-old woman from Nainital district died in a leopard attack on Saturday morning, forest officials said.
This is the second incident in Kathgodam area within 20 days when a leopard killed a woman who went to the forest to collect fodder. Earlier, on June 23, a woman who gone to the forest to cut grass in Kathgodam area was killed by a leopard.
BS Mehta, ranger of Manora forest range of Nainital forest division said the recent incident happened in Goula Barrage area.
“The woman was identified as Pushpa Sangudi. She had gone to the forest collect fodder with four other women when the leopard suddenly pounced on her and dragged her towards the forest area. Her body was later recovered from the nearby bushes around 1.5 km away from the spot,” he said.
He added that officials are now planning to set up a cage near the place where the incident happened in an attempt to capture the leopard.
The victim’s family will be given Rs 3 lakh as ex-gratia from the state forest department. So far a cheque of Rs 1 lakh has been provided to her family members, added Mehta.
This is not the first such incident in the state in recent months to be reported from the Kumaon region. An 18-month-old boy was killed by leopard in Almora on July 6. On June 23, a 54-year-old woman was mauled death by a leopard in Nainital district. On June 7, a teenage girl, who was listening to music on her headphones, was attacked and mauled to death by a leopard in Ramnagar area of Nainital district.
