Leopard attacks leave three dead in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon

RUDRAPUR: Three people have been killed in separate leopard attacks in Kumaon in the past four days, said forest officials. One person was killed in leopard attack in Haldwani on Sunday. It was second incident in the same range and third in Kumaon in 4 days.

“Leopard killed a man on Sunday in our forest range. The man was missing since Sunday, his body was found on Monday morning,” said KR Arya, ranger of Fatehpur range under Ramnagar forest division.

Forest officials said a 48-yearold man Nathu Lal of Vajuniya

Haldu village in Haldwani of Nainital had gone to nearby forest to fetch fodder for his cattle in the morning on Sunday but didn’t return. His relatives launched a searched but failed. His body was recovered by forest officials on Monday from Kathgodam. A 44-year-old woman, Nandi Sanwal, of Tangad village was mauled to death by a leopard on Thursday while collecting fodder in Kathgodam compartment-13 in the same forest range. Earlier, Mukesh Kumar was killed by leopard in Kathgodam on December 29.

“We have installed two cameras one cage near the spot of where Nathu Lal was killed and Six cameras and two cages near the woman lost her life. Most probably, higher authorities will permit to eliminate the killer,” said Arya.

In another incident, 28-yearold Arti Chand of Dhyanpur village was killed by a leopard under Ransali range of forest in Nanakmatta of US Nagar. Notably, three women and a child have lost lives in attacks of leopard in the past 10 months in Ransali range.

“We have been continuously advising villagers not to go forest alone as leopard movement is being witnessed frequently but they ignore. This tragic incident is a result of ignoring our advice,” said Pradeep Dhaulakhandi, ranger of Ransali.