Amid Increase In Attacks On Humans, Nine Leopards Are Serving 'Life Imprisonment' In Uttarakhand

On September 17, a 3-year-old girl was snatched away by a leopard while she was walking with her parents in the courtyard of their house in Berinag village of Pithoragarh district in Uttrakhand. Her mutilated body was recovered from the forest hours later.

The young girl was the latest victim of the increasing human-leopard conflict in Uttarakhand.

BCCL/ Representational Image

Villages deserted due to leopard fear

The number of leopard sightings and attacks has gone up so much in some places that residents have left their villages due to the fear of big cats.

Many villages in Dugadda and Pokhra blocks in Uttarakhand's Pauri district have now been 'abandoned' by residents who moved out of their homes after several people there were killed or injured in leopard attacks.

While many of these 'problem leopards' have been captured, their rehabilitation remains a challenge for the authorities.

Man-eater leopards not released back

Since they are man-eaters, these captured leopards can't be returned to the wild, as they pose a threat to humans.

AFP/ Representational Image

Currently, a total of nine such leopards are in captivity in Uttarakhand, where they are kept in cages.

Since they are too dangerous in the wild, Ruby, Rocky, Dara, Munna, Jat, Mona, Gabbar, and Joshi are now serving life sentences at the Chidiyapur Transit and Rehabilitation Centre on the Haridwar-Najibabad Highway.

Man-eater leopards in captivity till death

According to IANS, Ruby, a leopardess, was caught in 2015 when she was just six years old after she allegedly attacked and killed humans.

Rocky, who was caught in Tehri's Santala village in 2017, is also an alleged man-eater.

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Dara, who was caught at Kotdwar's Lalpani in 2017, has also remained in the facility ever since.

Mona was taken to the centre after she had entered DPS School in Rishikesh in 2020, while Gabbar was caught in Haridwar Forest Division in 2020.

An eight-year-old leopard was caught in Joshimath in 2020 and has been named Joshi.

Unlike others at the facility, four-year-old Munna Guldar was brought there after she was separated from her mother at birth.

"Here animals injured in different incidents are brought for treatment and they are again released in their natural habitat after treatment," Uttarakhand's Chief Wildlife Warden Sameer Sinha told IANS.

But unlike injured wild animals brought there, leopards are not released back into the wild as they become man-eaters.

BCCL

Sinha also said that due to human touch and being in a cage for a long time, these leopards have become more dreaded under mental stress.

Mostly caged, fed six days a week

In captivity, the leopards are released into open space for a few hours in the daylight and then imprisoned in cages.

They are fed chicken, mutton, and meat six days a week. On Tuesday, all nine leopards have to observe a fast.

According to Sinha, animals do not get prey daily in the forest, so they are kept on fast for one day. This also improves their health, he said.

Increase in human-leopard conflict

Leopards, like other big cats, are increasingly venturing outside forests and into human settlements for several reasons, including an increase in their wild population, shrinking space, and a lack of prey.

BCCL/ Representational Image

In the villages on the peripheries of forests, cattle and other domestic animals, including dos, become their prey. Attacks on humans, especially children, are also not uncommon.

Angry villagers taking out their frustration and beating captured leopards to death have also increased due to such attacks.

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