Wild animal mauls Uttarakhand woman to death, agitated villagers block highway

Champawat, Jan 1 (PTI) A woman was killed after an unidentified wild animal attacked her here in Uttarakhand's Almora district, officials said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening, when some women had gone to the forest to collect fodder. During this time, the animal attacked Bachuli Devi, 60, of Khalyon Kyari village, they said.

Upon searching, the woman's mutilated body was recovered about 200 metres from the spot, they said.

Angered by the incident, the villagers blocked the Bhikiyasain-Ranikhet highway, demanding that the forest department identify the animal and declare it a man-eater, they said.

Whether the animal that attacked the woman on Wednesday evening was a leopard or a tiger is yet to be ascertained, they said.

Upon receiving information about the incident, Forest Ranger Umesh Pandey, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Rinku Bisht, and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Deepak Singh reached the spot along with forest personnel.

However, by then, the agitated people had blocked the highway with the deceased woman's body, they said.

The highway was cleared late at night, but people blocked it again on Thursday, they said.

The forest department has installed cages and cameras around the spot and has also collected samples of the animal's footprints and hair with the help of wildlife experts and sent them to Dehradun for identification, they said.

Due to the villagers' blockade, the post-mortem has not been conducted yet, they said. PTI DPT SHS