Following the death of a woman in a leopard attack in the woods near Mussoorie Road, the Forest Department has placed cages and started patrolling in the area. The department is trying to capture and relocate the big cat before another undesirable case of leopard-human conflict.
70-year-old Gainda Devi, resident of Makkawala village near Mussoorie Road had gone to collect fodder in the woods on Wednesday but failed to return home till evening. Her body was then found from the woods with injury marks to show that she was killed by a leopard.
According to the Mussoorie divisional forest officer Dhiraj Pandey, it was ascertained that the woman was killed by a leopard. “We are not waiting to ascertain whether the leopard responsible for the kill is a man-eater. The department has put up two cages in the area and patrols have been deputed. Our focus now is on trying to capture and relocate the big cat away from human habitation to prevent any further conflict situation,” he said.
It should be noted here that the leopard population in the State is estimated to be more than 2,000. Due to increasing human population, fragmentation of habitat and loss of prey base to poaching and other factors, the incidents of human-leopard conflict in the State have been rising.