PNS | BAGESHWAR
A three-year-old child was killed by a leopard at a village in Bageshwar district on Thursday evening. According to local sources, the child Yogita Upreti was playing in the courtyard of her home in Aulani Danga village on Kanda Tehsil during the evening. A leopard reportedly attacked her at about 5 PM in the courtyard. Hearing the commotion, the family members raised the alarm and the big cat ran away from the spot on hearing their shouts. The district disaster management officer Shikha Suyal said that the girl’s body had been recovered from the spot. Forest ranger Pradeep Kandpal informed that a team of the Forest department departed for the village on receiving information about the incident.
It is pertinent to mention here that incidents of leopards attacking humans have increased at an alarming frequency in the rural mountainous areas of the State in recent years. The locals in places like the villages in Bageshwar district have repeatedly approached the authorities seeking a solution to this situation. Experts point out that the big cats alone cannot be blamed for the rise in human-wildlife conflict. Expansion of human settlements, indiscriminate exploitation of forest resources on which the herbivores preyed upon by the big cats feed and other factors have led to an increase in the incidents of leopards nearing human settlements and attacking people at times.
