Leopard kills kid in Nainital, villagers set forest on fire
NAINITAL: Angry villagers in Harinagari area of Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district set a forest on fire Monday evening after a leopard killed seven-year-old boy. Forest department has issued orders to kill the big cat.
The boy’s half-eaten body was found in the nearby forest area on Tuesday morning.
A crowd of over a thousand gathered in the village due to which the foresters could not go into the affected area during the night, forest officials said. Harinagari is around 25 kms from the district headquarters.
RK Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO) Bageshwar said the Deepak, son of Diwan Ram had gone to urinate outside the house on Monday evening when the leopard struck and dragged him towards the forest area. He said the boy’s mother was cooking at that time when she heard the cries of her son.
“The angry villagers later set the forest on fire and we couldn’t go into the affected area. A crowd of over a thousand people gathered in the village. They demanded immediate compensation for the family of the victim and shooting of the leopard by the forest officials,” he said.
The extent of the damage caused by the fire can be ascertained only after forest officials reach the area and carry out a survey.
Singh said the half-eaten body of the child was found nearly 250 metres from his house in the forest area. He said the family of the victim would be provided with a compensation of Rs 3 lakh after following the due procedure in such cases.
This is not the first such incident in the area this year. In March, the same leopard is suspected to have killed a four-yearold child in the area, said Singh.
The second such incident in less than three months fuelled tempers on Monday that led the villagers to set the forest on fire.
The wildlife department is holding talks with the chief wildlife warden on whether to declare leopard a man-eater and eliminate it.
Singh later told the media that eight to nine hectares of the forest land was razed in the fire and the maneater leopard of Kumoan to be shot by shooters This is not the first such incident in the area.
Earlier in March also, a leopard had killed a four-year-old child in the area, said Singh.
Singh said given the fact that the leopard had killed two children this year, he immediately sought permission from the principal chief conservator of forests for declaring the leopard as a man-eater and killing it.
Later in the day based on the request of the of the DFO Bagheshwar, principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) DVS Khati gave the permission to kill the leopard.
Khati said given the human loss due to the leopard , he has given permission for “destroying the leopard”.
A team of shooters from Almora will soon reach Bagheshwar to kill the man-eater leopard, said the forest official.