The respite for people of Seraj constituency in Mandi district has been short lived as another leopard has ventured into human habitat, posing grave threat to the people and their livestock, after the killing of two man-eating leopards sometime ago.
People have once again been forced to spend sleepless nights. On Thursday, a pet dog was taken away by the leopard just 300 meter away from the house of BJP MlA Jai Ram Thakur at Tandi village while on Wednesday a sheep was attacked at Pokhridhar village about half a kilometer from Tandi village.
Till now, three persons have been killed and two have been seriously injured in five leopard attacks in the constituency since the first attack on July 18.
People had to stage dharna and even meet Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to get the leopard killed.
Forest department declared the leopard as man-eater on July 25 and a professional hunter, Nawab Shaufat Ali from Hyderabad, was summoned on August 7.
After persistent tracking with the help of 15 cameras and five cage traps, Ali shot down the leopard near Jhanjehli village on August 11.
The spot of killing was 5 km from the attack site, where Kashmir Singh had been attacked on August 10. People rejoiced after the killing of the leopard, but again on August 12, another leopard attacked a person and Forest department had to declare the second leopard also a man eater on August 13, giving Ali the orders to hunt it down.
On August 21, the second leopard was about to attack a family, but was shot down at 3 am near Banolidhar village.
People had a brief respite after the killing of second leopard, until August 26, when the report of a third leopard being spotted surfaced.
Ali had shot into fame after killing of the two leopards although the Forest department had failed to even locate them. Ali too had returned to Hyderabad.
With the recent attack in the past two days on live stocks once again, fear psychosis has gripped the entire constituency.A delegation of people met Seraj MlA Jai Ram Thakur seeking the killing of the third leopard before there is any loss to human life.
"Villagers who have spotted the leopard are saying that she is of the same family and has turned more ferocious after the killing of two male leopards," said Thakur.
"I have asked for a call attention motion in the State Assembly, but the matter was not taken up," said Thakur adding that he had been demanding cages in different localities to trap the third leopard.
Forest minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri said the department was looking into the matter and till now no human attack had been reported by the third leopard and therefore it could not be declared a man eater. "We can't order that it be shot down unless there are any attack on humans," said Bharmouri.