Stray leopard shot dead in Aashiana, sparks protests
LUCKNOW: A leopard, which had strayed into Lucknow’s Aashiana area two days back, was shot dead on Saturday morning after it attacked a police team, injuring three, including inspector Triloki Singh of Aashiana police station, police said.
The forest department, meanwhile, claimed that permission to kill the feline was not taken, which is mandatory under the wildlife act.
Animal activists, meanwhile, have condemned the incident. “The leopard had not attacked, or even tried to attack any human being, until it was provoked today,” said Kamna Pandey, an activist.
“Hiding for the last two days, the animal had ventured into the house of one Shafeeq Khan early Saturday morning. In an effort to trap and tranquilise the animal, the police team came in close contact with the feline. It was killed after two locals and a cop were injured,” said Lucknow SSP Deepak Kumar.
The forest department, which is furious over the killing and has announced to lodge an FIR, alleged their team was not allowed to operate once the leopard came out of its hiding place at around 5 am.
“Had the police team given way to forest staff, we could have used tranquilising guns, instead of real ones that were used by cops,” said Pravin Rao, chief conservator of forest, Lucknow division.
He said a police complaint will be lodged in connection with the killing, which will be probed.
Defending the cops, the SSP said under schedule 11 (2) of the wildlife act, killing the animal in self-defence or safety of others is not an offence. “There was panic in the area and the forest team had arrived late. To avert a bigger tragedy, cops had to open fire,” he said.
Kumar has written to district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma and sought a magisterial probe into the incident “to clear the circumstances that led to the killing of the animal.”
The leopard was trapped in a three-layered net in an open ground in Aurangabad Khalsa village under Aashiana police area. In the morning, it tore apart the net and managed to come out. It was here that the police team and a few others started chasing the animal, which created panic.
“We saw the animal running and raised an alarm. The police and forest team members also started chasing it. Soon after it entered a house and they shot the animal dead,” said Rakesh a local.
Inside the house, the animal came face to face with cops when it got trapped in the kitchen. It was here, the forest officials felt, the feline could have been tranquilized, but was instead killed.
Instead of cordoning off the area, the police started chasing the feline, said Rao while insisting that the cops’ job was to maintain the law and order and not to kill the animal.
He said forest officials were trying to tranqualize the animal for last two days but failed as it had entered the unused sewer pipes lying in the area. “We were waiting for it to come out. The plan to tranquilise it was ready,” said Rao.
This was the third case of a leopard venturing into city limits in last one month. Earlier, a leopard was spotted in a school in Thakurganj area and another one strayed into Chinhat area. They have not been captured as yet.