In the third attack by a leopard on a human being in Pauri district within 20 days, a woman was injured by a big cat in Beena village on Saturday. The leopard attacks in the area have spread fear among the locals who blame the Forest Department for not doing enough to mitigate the conflict. A leopard attacked Chandani Devi in Beena village when she was working in the cow shed on Saturday night.
Her screams for help scared the leopard away. The injured woman was taken to the primary health centre at Pokhra from where she was referred to the Government joint hospital at Kotdwar. The human-leopard conflict continues to cause anxiety among the locals especially in the rural mountainous regions of Uttarakhand. The cases of leopard attacks in the last fortnight have been reported from Chamoli, Tehri, Rudraprayag and Pauri districts. Such incidents have been on the rise recently, state the locals.
In a span of 20 days, leopards have killed two persons and seriously injured one woman in Pauri district apart from killing some domesticated animals. First, on March 29, a leopard had killed Sulochana Devi in Naugaon village in Kot block. later, Satendra lal was killed by a leopard in Chama Bada village in Yamkeshwar block on April 8. The locals have been demanding that the big cat responsible be declared a man-eater and be shot but the Forest Department has not done so.
The latest attack on April 18 that left a woman seriously injured has increased the level of discontent among the locals regarding the functioning of the Forest Department. Apart from the residents of several villages in Khirsu block and Srikot in Pauri, the locals of Karnprayag in Chamoli district too are living in fear of leopards.