Leopard-human conflict claims teenager’s life in Uttarakhand

A 17-year-old girl was killed after being attacked by a leopard at the campus of Forest Research Institute here, prompting strong protests on Sunday by the people, who blamed the Uttarakhand’s forest department for not taking measures against the growing menace of big cats in the area. 

The incident took place on Saturday evening when 17-year-old Shamiksha was talking over the phone when suddenly the leopard attacked her from behind. The animal released the girl after her sisters and nearby people raised an alarm, they said. 

The girl, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital where she was declared dead. Enraged over the incident, people protested against the forest department and demanded that the wildcat should either be caught or shot dead. Similar incident occurred in Fulsani area in the outskirts of the FRI campus, where a minor boy was killed by a leopard nearly one and half months back.

Shamiksha’s parents were not at home, when this accident occurred. After this incident, the locals and relatives of the bereaved family gathered at the spot on Sunday morning for mass condolence and criticised the senior officials of the FRI and state forest department for not taking precautionary measures against the growing menace of big cats in the area. Some months back, FRI had distributed some circulars for taking measures for the avoidance of such incidents.