Leopards reign terror in hills of Uttarakhand, 3 killed in 3 days

KATHMANDU: Three, including two minors, were killed in leopard attacks in separate incidents in the past three days in Uttarakhand.

In the recent leopard attack on Thursday, an 11-year-old boy was killed while he was on his way home in Almora district.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dhrub Singh Martolia, Civil and Soyam forest division, Almora, said, “It was a tragic incident and we handed the minor’s body to his relatives on Friday after post-mortem. We have set up a cage to trap the leopard and intensified the patrolling.”

Earlier on Tuesday, a five-year-old boy was on going to his house through a deserted area in Pabo village of Pauri district when a leopard pounced on him and killed him instantly.

On the same day, 42-year-old Dhanveer Lal of Badiyar village had gone to a nearby market but didn’t return. His mangled body was recovered on Wednesday.

Following the repeated incident in the span of just one week, a division bench of the Uttrakhand high court (HC) on Thursday directed the government to form a committee under the chairmanship of experts.

The court also asked the state to present a progress report in two weeks on the measures taken so far to prevent the increasing human-wildlife conflict.

On November 16, a forest official was suspended and booked under Wildlife Protection Act, of 1972 after he shot a tigress who entered the Marchula market in Almora district.

The forest department officials claim that Dheeraj Singh, a forest guard of Mandal range of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, fired two rounds on the ground to scare the animal away but it hit the thigh of the tigress which killed her. Singh was praised by the locals as the tigress had become a threat to them. They also demanded his suspension be revoked.

Sameer Sinha, chief wildlife warden, Uttarakhand, couldn’t be contacted for his remarks on the issue.

Meanwhile, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Oct 1 announced an increase in the compensation to victims of man-animal conflict from the existing ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh.

The financial aid to those seriously injured in wildlife attacks was increased from ₹50,000 to ₹ 1 lakh, he said.

-Hindustan Times