A man-eating leopard, which was reported to have created “terror” in Devprayag and its adjoining villages in Tehri district, was shot dead in a special operation carried out by the Uttarakhand forest department on Sunday. The leopard had featured on two CCTV videos which had made waves, drawing public attention and generating buzz on social media.
In the first video the feline was seen chasing stray animals and sitting right on the middle of the highway and that too in front of the Devprayag police station and the cops running inside to save their lives. In the new video the leopard captures a calf and in a dramatic development abandons the prey and flees after being challenged and attacked by a bull. Both these videos became viral on social media.
The man-eating leopard had killed a 30-year-old mentally-challenged person in Devprayag on 30 August. The jungle cat was active in Devprayag and three villages adjoining it-Tungi, Koti and Bhweet. Expert shooter Joy Hukil shot dead the man-eating leopard to bring relief to affected villagers.
Joy Hukil said, “The leopard had terrorized local people by entering their residence in day time and attacking their pets. The nails of the leopard were damaged.” With this, Hukil has so far killed 38 man-eating leopards in Uttarakhand.
The leopard was active on highways and other public places. Forest ranger Devendra Singh Pundir, Maniknath Range, said, “By killing one person and injuring two others, the leopard had created fear among the local residents.”
After the 30 August incident, the forest department was forced to issue permits to shoot down the dangerous leopard. The one week long operation of the forest department finally concluded on Sunday.