‘Man-eater’ leopard finally hunted down in Uri

BARAMULLA — After giving sleepless nights to locals and keeping wildlife teams on their toes for more than a fortnight, the “man-eater” leopard was on Sunday “hunted down” in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

The wildlife team and police eliminated the man-eater wildlife beast after it attacked a woman namely Dilshada Begum (30) wife of Farid Ahmad of Latchipora. While the woman was removed to GMC Baramulla for medical treatment, teams of wildlife and police, camping in the area from last more than a week, achieved success in eliminating the beast.

Officials of the Wildlife department told the news agency GNS that the movement pattern of the beast was highly dynamic and had been closely watched.

The officials said that after the killing of two minors, several teams were deputed to several spots in Uri and launched search operations to locate the animal. The animal had killed at least two minors before the officials ordered the “hunting down” of the leopard.

On September 16 at 7:00 PM, a girl child namely Munzia Beigh daughter of Imran of Jabadar Lachipora Boniyar (Uri) was lifted and killed by a leopard. Her body was recovered from a nearby forest area late in the night on the same day.

Subsequently on September 22, at about 7:30 PM, another child namely Ali Hussain son of Abbas Hussain of Dani Cholan Boniyar (Uri) was lifted and killed by the leopard and subsequently, his body was retrieved after several hours of search from the forest area.