Man-eater leopard killed in Uttarakhand

In the wake of the incidents of human-leopard conflict in less than 10 days, the Almora forest division has urged the Chief Wildlife Warden to declare leopard as 'man-eater'.

The Sub Divisional Officer, Almora Forest Division, M K Bahukhandi told the reporters on Saturday that the forest department hired shooters to trap the man-eating leopard."We thought that the man-eater has not been killed completely and we should start the campaign again. So, we called the shooters on September 30 and Latpat Singh along with others who came from Chamoli and Pauri continued their search operations.

“During the combine operations, our shooters shot a man-eater who attacked a villager in Huna village. When we brought the leopard then we saw that both the cannons of the leopard were missing and this shows that it was a man-eater," said Bahukhandi. According to reports, a leopard had killed Sheela Bisht on Monday (October 22) who had gone to the fields to cut grass when the predator jumped on her.

Around three women have been mauled to death in Palana village of the Lamgara block, which created panic among the villagers. Of late, there have been reports of the frequent intrusion of leopards into human settlements in search of food.

The forest department is taking adequate measures to tackle the situation.