A day after a teenager was killed by a leopard in the Forest Research Institute campus, a hunter authorised by the Forest Department arrived in the city and set up a machan to trap the big cat that has been declared as man-eater by the department. The hunter planned to shoot the big cat on its return to the site of the attack on Sunday night. A cage with bait had also been placed to capture the big cat.
It is pertinent to mention here that a teenager, Samiksha was outside her house on Saturday evening when she was attacked by the leopard. The big cat dragged her some distance, before it was scared away by neighbours. later, the girl succumed to her injuries. The irate residents accosted FRI officials and Forest Department officials demanding that leopards sighted on campus must be killed.
According to the Dehradun sub-divisional officer Gulveer Singh, the big cat has been declared as man-eater and hunter, Sanjay Singh from Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) who had shot another leopard declared as man-eater in Fulsani in January this year, has been authorised to shoot the big cat by declaring it a man-eater following the teenager’s death on Saturday. Singh has reconnoitered the area and set up a machan near the site where the girl was attacked on Saturday. The hunter was expected to shoot the big cat on Sunday night.
In view of frequent leopard sightings in the FRI campus, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) director general Ashwani Kumar had chaired a meeting in December last year with officials of the institute and Forest Department. It had been decided then that an appropriate proposal as per advice of chief wildlife warden for erecting complete boundary wall of FRI campus with barbed wire fencing, flood lighting of all residential areas, lopping of trees and clearance of undergrowth will be prepared and submitted to Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for allocation of funds.
It had also been decided that all the residents of FRI and visitors to the institute campus take precautions at all times but especially after sunset and with children. It should be noted here that the FRI campus, with diversity of trees and bushes provides a suitable habitat for proliferation of high density of herbivores like wild boar, porcupine, hare and pheasants among others.
Apart from availability of ample food and water, the FRI campus also provides protected environment for survival and breeding of leopards. A child was also injured in an encounter with leopard here on December 4 last year.