A girl aged about two years was reportedly mauled to death by a leopard on Saturday afternoon at Bonderkhal village in Pokhra block of Pauri district. The Forest Department has set up two cages and deployed staff at the site where the child was killed. The divisional forest officer has requested the chief wildlife warden to declare the big cat a man-eater.
Apart from placement of two cages and deployment of a five-member departmental team, licensed shooter Joy Hukel has been asked to reconnoiter the area to ascertain the leopard’s movements. The Garhwal divisional forest official has requested the chief wildlife warden to declare the leopard a man eater, but such a declaration has not been issued so far.
Garhwal forest division sub divisional officer Subodh Kala told The Pioneer that two and a half year old Poonam was taken by the leopard outside her home in Bonderkhal on Saturday afternoon. Only the victim’s crippled grandmother was in the house while her mother and grandfather were collecting fodder from a nearby field. The body of the child was recovered in the bushes about 200 metres from the victim’s home. The leopard had not consumed her body. The SDO further said that 90 per cent of the compensation amount had been given to the family of the victim.
Scared by the incident the villagers have sought security from the forest department and the district administration. The SDO said that once the big cat is declared a man-eater by the chief wildlife warden, an authorised hunter will be deputed to shoot the leopard. It is pertinent to mention here that 24 persons have been killed by leopards since 2012 in the Garhwal forest division while five leopards were shot dead and four caged so far.