Suspected man-eater leopard shot dead in Udaipur forests after attacking police constable

Udaipur Range IG Rajesh Meena told The Indian Express that police teams were hunting for the leopard in the early hours of Friday when it attacked one of the constables. The state forest department had previously issued shoot-at-sight orders for the suspected man-eater, which is suspected to have made its first on September 19.

“At around 6.30 am, a leopard suddenly came out of a bush and attacked our constable. It was at that moment that our constable immediately fired on the leopard. The first bullet hit its lower neck region. Later, other officials shot at the leopard. In total, it had four wounds,” he said.

According to the officer, the leopard was spotted Thursday but it escaped. However, whether this is the animal responsible for the attacks would only be known following an autopsy.  “For that, the samples of its intestine have been sent to Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, where it will be tested for the presence of human flesh,” Meena said.

The leopard attacks had sparked protests in Gogunda forest range last month, prompting forest officials to set up cages and also enlist the aid of the Indian Army to help capture it. Four animals have been captured before this but killings continued despite these efforts.

According to Deputy Conservator of Forest Udaipur North Ajay Chittora the department will continue using cages until post-mortem results confirm that the leopard killed is a man-eater.

“We can’t take any risk. We have asked the villagers to be alert. After the post-mortem, the leopard will be cremated,” Chittoda said.