The leopard that had mauled to death a 12-year-old Nepali boy, Anand Bahadur, on Sunday last was killed by a deputed hunter on Wednesday mid-night in Mason Talla village of Pauri tehsil in Pauri district. The body of the boy was found about 200 metres away from his home.

The divisional forest officer had sent a report to the Chief Wildlife Warden, asking for the leopard be declared a man-eater. On the request, an instruction was given that the leopard should be captured first by using tranquiliser and then the big cat would be declared a man-eater. The forest department deputed the hunter, Joy Hukel, who had killed another man-eater in Maletha village in Ekeshwar block in the district where the leopard had killed two persons in the last week of September.

Gram Pradhan Bhitai Malli Virendra Singh Negi informed The Pioneer that on Thursday afternoon, a leopard attempted to attack the old nani of the boy who had been earlier mauled and killed by the big cat in Mason Talla. Terror is still prevailing in the area and the locals said three or four big cats are still there, prowling about for their prey. Divisional Forest Officer Garhwal Division Raj Mani Pandey said the post-mortem examination of the killed leopard was in process and after the report was received it would become clear whether the leopard was a man-eater or not.  But prima facie, it seems the beast was a man-eater, he said.

Responding to a question, Pandey said that he has no information regarding the presence of three other leopards moving about in the adjoining villages of the district head-quarter Pauri. It is pertinent to mention that before the leopard mauled to death the 12-year old boy in Mason Talla village, three other children had been attacked and injured during  September in the adjoining villages of district headquarter Pauri, namely Kandai-Chiwcha, Rewari and Bajwari. In all, eleven persons have died in the human-leopard conflict since 2012.

Even though hunting wildlife is illegal, poaching appears to be affecting the prey base of the leopard. As deer, wild boar and other wildlife generally preferred by the leopard are being poached by the humans, the big cats are turning towards human settlements in search of easy prey like dogs and other domesticated animals.