Maneater Leopard gunned down

Almora (Uttarakhand)

A man-eater Leopard was gunned down on Tuesday morning in Raun village of Havalbagh region in the Uttarakhand state of north India. Villagers in the vicinity breathed a sigh of relief.

On March 12 at 6:30pm 11 year old Rupa, daughter of Bhuvan Ram, was attacked and taken away by this Leopard. Her half eaten body was recovered the next day. The forest department after a long procedure declared this Leopard as man-eater. Shooter Joy Whickle from Pauri was contacted for the task. After 26-days of vigilance the Leopard was finally gunned down at the same point where it killed Rupa.

The dead Leopard is a female and aged between 8 to 9 years. Her three canines – one above and two below – are broken. Her claws have deteriorated over the time. Experts tells that the inability to hunt its natural prey lead this Leopardess to become man-eater.

Bottom-line:

Is it fair to kill a man-eater? How many times we kill our old parents or even grandparents when they are incapable of doing their own things? The stupid fear of mankind and their dread of dying have lead to the imbalance amongst species. Why is it alright for man to breed, reproduce, kill and eat animals, while cats killing humans is not fair? And why there is no national level Environment and Forest policy to tackle such a situation without such harsh results? It is not impossible to lay bait and trap a man-eater animal and give them their rest of remaining life under captivity. Jairam Ramesh got no answers for such a crude situation. He must come up with something for animals in a state ruled by man-eater Tiger, Leopards and Bears as well as raging Elephants. For now we can only sit back and count the death of one more precious cat from the wilds.