Hunter guns down leopard that ‘killed’ two children in U’khand
DEHRADUN: A suspected man-eater leopard aged around three-and-ahalf years was killed by a hunter on Sunday in Bageshwar district, forest department officials said.
They said the leopard was suspected of killing two children this year. The department deployed hunter Lakhpat Singh on June 12, a day after a 7-year-old boy was killed in a suspected animal attack. Singh, who gunned down the leopard, said it was his 50th kill of a man-eater. He has killed man-eaters across the state after being assigned the duty by the department.
The boy’s half-eaten body was recovered in the forest close to Harinagari area of Bageshwar district. Angry villagers even set a forest afire, leading to forest officials swinging into action.
RK Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO), Bageshwar, told HT that Singh traced the leopard and finally killed it.
“The leopard is nearly 3.6 years old. The post-mortem was performed today (Sunday) and the report will come in the next 2-3 days,” the DFO said. When asked how he was sure that it is the same leopard that killed the child, the DFO said, “The postmortem will reveal whether it is the same (man-eater).”
“However, leopards usually do not changes their territory. The leopard was killed in the same forest where the half-eaten body was recovered. So, it seems it is the same leopard,” he said.
It is also unclear why the leopard turned into a man-eater. Officials, however, hinted that a lack of prey base in the forest led it to kill two children in a gap of three months.
Uttarakhand is among the states with the highest prevalence of man-leopard conflict.