Jaipur, Oct 1 (PTI) A 55-year-old woman was killed in a leopard attack in Udaipur district of Rajasthan on Tuesday, with the number rising to seven, forest officials said.
Alarmed over the rising number of deaths due to leopard attacks, the forest authorities issued an order on Tuesday to shoot down the man-eater leopard after identification.
The order came after Kamla Kanwar was mauled to death on Tuesday outside her house in Suawaton ka Gudha when she was feeding fodder to livestock.
Following the order issued by Principal Chief Wildlife Warden (PCCF) and Chief Wildlife Warden (CWWF) Pavan Kumar Upadhyay, teams of the forest department along with the police and army have surrounded the area where the leopard is moving around.
“Orders have been given to shoot the man-eater leopard in Udaipur,” Upadhyay said.
Since the postmortem report of the latest case was yet to come, the department has not confirmed whether the woman died in the leopard attack but her family members have alleged that it was a leopard attack, he said.
“In Udaipur district, humans were hunted by leopards on September 18, 19, 20, 25, 28 and 30. In the above incidents, the place of attack by leopards is Gram Panchayat Chhali, Bagdunda, Majavad and Madar under the jurisdiction of Deputy Forest Conservator Udaipur (North),” the order said.
Concerned over the leopard attack and growing resentment among the locals, the forest authorities placed cages, installed camera traps and sought help from the Indian Army to track the leopard last month. As a result, three leopards were captured from different places.
Following repeated incidents, officials of the forest department from Udaipur sought permission from the head office to kill the animal.
After a discussion with the Udaipur divisional commissioner, IG Udaipur, Udaipur collector, SP and forest officials on Monday, the head office on Tuesday granted conditional permission to kill the leopard.
The permission was granted under conditions that an attempt should be made to tranquilise or trap the leopard. However, in case the animal cannot be tranquilized or trapped, its correct identification should be ensure before killing the animal. PTI SDA HIG
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