Fear gripped the villagers of Banda Road in Haridwar district as two back-to-back incidents of wild beast attacks happened. While a leopard mauled a village youth Sukhvinder near Solani river, leaving him seriously injured on Monday morning, a body of an around 55-year-old man was found in the vicinity of the spot where the villager was attacked. Sabbir whose body was found had gone missing on Sunday evening. However, it is not yet confirmed whether he was killed by a leopard or another animal.
Sukhvinder had gone to cut grass when he was attacked. Hearing his scream, the villagers rushed out and shooed the leopard away. Sukhvinder was admitted at a hospital in a serious condition.
Speaking to The Pioneer, sub-divisional forest officer Roorkee N B Sharma said, “When we reached the spot the female leopard which had evidently attacked him had her jaw pulled apart and was found dead with bruises all over. Seemingly, two leopards, a male and a female, had picked up a fight and the bruised female attacked the villager in self defence.” When asked about the body found near the site, Sharma said, “It is probable that Sabbir was attacked by some wild animal, but it cannot be confirmed that the attack was by a leopard.”
The residents of areas of Jagjeetpur, Jamalpur, Kharkhari, Bhimgoda, Haripurkalan, Brahmpuri, Hill Bypass Road, BHEl aside from those working in the district headquarters at Roshanabad located close to the Rajaji Park are scared following wild animals intruding their residential areas.
The residents of Haridwar are living in a constant shadow of fear following the frequent intrusions of leopard in residential colonies bordering the Rajaji National Park and Tiger Reserve. Situated on the banks of Ganga, the city is enveloped by forest area on three sides. A few incidents of leopards mauling the farmers and killing stray and pet dogs in last couple of months have surfaced.
Things have come to such a pass in Kharkhari area and hill - pass road that the people are too scared to move out for morning and evening walks.
Two months ago, a leopard had entered the house of an employee of Mela Hospital in the hospital premises and mauled a pet dog in the courtyard. People are scared to come out in the evening on account of the fear of the stalking leopards. “One morning, the leopard killed my dog. The carcass of the dog was found on the roof. We informed the forest officials, but to no avail. We staged a protest and served an application to the forest officials. We also raised the matter before chief medical officer of Haridwar,” said Sushil lakhera of Mela hospital.
In the beginning of March, leopard had mauled two villagers of Jagjeetpur, leaving them injured seriously. The forest department laid the cage to trap the big cat. It was caught after around10 days since the incident occurred. Besides, a leopard was sighted on March 10 near Ranipur jhal as well.
last year too, three leopard cubs had got trapped in the house of Judges Colony in Roshnabad. A female leopard had entered an ashram located at a densely populated area of Kankhal which was trapped in a store room of the ashram and was tranquilized after several hours. Jawans of PAC campus in Jawalapur had also sighted the leopard in the premises. A leopard had intruded into the canteen of district headquarters. It also pounced on a man, leaving him with multiple injuries.