Raja Syed Rather
Ganderbal, Jul 12: A day after, a man-eater leopard mauled a 6-year-old girl to death, authorities have stepped up search operations in Zazuna village of Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Monday to find the wild animal.
Officials said that following yesterday’s incident, wildlife teams have been deployed at every hotspot like Xazuna and adjoining villages in the area to eliminate this man-eater leopard.
“Teams are placed around 4 kilometres of the place of incident. We have also placed around 10 cages, cable traps and at least five shooters at vulnerable spots to kill the man eater animal,” he said.
Meanwhile, district forest officer Ganderbal said that the officials are working round the clock that include officers from forest protection force, wildlife, SDRF and forest department to eliminate or catch the man-eater leopard.
On Sunday, a 6 year old girl identified as Mahiya Shabir became the latest victim to man animal conflict, when she was with her grandmother when a leopard pounced on her and took her away.
Soon after the incident, officials of the wildlife department, police and locals launched a search operation to trace the minor girl. Her body was later found in the field, around a kilometer from the incident.
Meanwhile, the local population has alleged negligence of wild life department as according to them they have been informing the officials since the last three years about the presence of leopards in the area but no action was taken to trap the animal.
Altaf Ahmed, DFO wildlife, said that the department has launched a massive hunt to catch or kill the leopard which has been declared a “man-eater”.
