Man-eater leopard shot in Uttarakhand

Hunter Joy Hukil (right) with forest staff after killing the leopard in Pauri Garhwal district. (Express photo by Virender Singh Negi)

A man-eater male leopard was shot dead by a hunter hired by Forest department in Srinagar town of Pauri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand on Monday night. According to Forest officials, permission for eliminating the leopard was obtained from the department state headquarters after the animal killed a woman and attacked few livestock last week.

“The leopard which had killed a woman in the district last week and had attacked various domestic animals was shot dead by hunter Joy Hukil and staff of forest department in Bachheli village Monday night around 11 pm. The animal was going towards the village when it was killed,” said Divisional Forests Officer (DFO), Garhwal, Laxman Singh Rawat. He added that the leopard was about seven-years-old. Post-mortem of the carnivore is yet to be conducted.

The DFO said that leopard was declared a man-eater. He added that the hunt for it had started three days back. The male leopard was accompanied by one female leopard too, and both were moving in the forest on Monday night but only the male was hunted.

Conservator of Forests, Garhwal, N N Pandey said that permission for eliminating the animal was obtained because it was moving in areas close to the urban habitat in Srinagar town.