A leopardess, suspected to be a man-eater, was shot dead by hunters deputed by the Forest Department at Fulsani village in Dehradun on Friday evening. According to the department officials, experts have said that the leopardess shot has the features of a man-eater. Dehradun sub-divisional officer Gulvir Singh said that the leopardess was attracted to one of the baits tethered at the site when she was shot by the five-member team of hunters headed by Sanjay Singh of Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.
The big cat, shot at 5:40 pm on Friday, is estimated to have been aged about six years and measured two metres long. "Experts have confirmed that the leopardess had damaged canines and other features seen in a man-eater. We had also made casts of the pug marks of the big cat visiting the area and these have been matched with those of the leopardess killed on Friday. However, department staff will continue to monitor the area for some time," he added.
It will be recalled that a 10-year-old boy was killed and his body partially eaten by a leopard in Fulsani on the outskirts of Dehradun last week. The big cat had been declared a man-eater and a team of hunters was deployed by the Forest Department to kill the leopard. The leopard had earlier managed to kill and eat a goat tethered as bait.