The forest department claims that it will first try to tranquilise and relocate leopard declared man-eaters instead of killing them. However, a couple of days ago, department staff in the Almora forest division shot dead a leopard — sighted with a human body —which had not been declared a man-eater by the chief wildlife warden.
Activists have demanded that a case to be lodged against the divisional forest officer for violating the Wildlife Protection Act and if the department fails to do so in 60 days, People for Animals, Uttarakhand, will do so.
On May 7, a leopard killed and took away a girl in a village in Almora forest division. The villagers searched for the leopard and the girl all night long and the following day, they found it inside a drainage pipe on the Betalghat-Saunral motor road with the girl's body. The villagers trapped the feline in the pipe blocking the exits with stones.
It is alleged that though police and revenue officials reached the site, the forest department staff reached the site very late and even then they shot the feline instead of tranquilising it.
The divisional staff avers that they were attempting to tranquilise the leopard when it attacked them and had to be shot. Surprisingly, when asked whether the department would take any action in this case, the chief wildlife warden SS Sharma said, "I have not seen anything. I do not know anything. I am in a meeting."