Uttarakhand: Leopard terrorising Gajald village in Pauri killed

Dehradun, Dec 10 (PTI) A leopard that had become a symbol of terror in Gajald village of Pauri district in Uttarakhand was killed by the forest department on Wednesday night.

According to an official statement, the department deployed a team of special hunters and killed the leopard following instructions from Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Taking note of the leopard attacks in the area, the CM had directed the officials to take action.

Subsequently, the department, local administration and hunters carried out a coordinated action and neutralised the leopard, who is believed to be behind the attack on a child and a 45-year-old man, who later succumbed to his injuries.

Garhwal Forest Division Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Abhimanyu Singh said that the leopard was killed at about 9 pm. He said that a DNA sample of the killed leopard will be taken and tested to ascertain if it was the same leopard.

Following the two attacks in the first week of December, there was considerable anger among the villagers in the area. Later, a team of senior officials led by Principal Secretary (Forest) R K Sudhanshu visited the spot and met the affected villagers.

The government has now assured that vigilance and patrolling will be increased in the affected area to prevent the recurrence of animal attacks in the future. PTI DPT AMJ AMJ