Shimla: Residents demand immediate Govt action after leopard kills 2 children within 3 mths

After the second attack by a leopard on children in the capital city of Shimla within three months, the residents have amped up their demand from the forest department to declare the concerned leopard 'a man eater' and urged the state government and the district administration to immediately take necessary steps to make the city safe again.

"Recently, nearly 14 days ago, a child was carried off by a leopard in the downtown area of the city and no leopard has been so far located by the forest department. Nearly three and half months ago a girl was carried off and killed by the leopard. We had demanded the forest department to identify and declare the leopard 'man-eater' after the first incident itself but they did not take it seriously and another kid was carried off on the night of Diwali," said Sanjay Chauhan, Former Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation.

As locals claim that they themselves have spotted a leopard roaming in the area and nearby forests on various occasions, Chauhan said that the locals under the banner of 'Shimla Nagrik Sabha' have been protesting on the issue and have demanded that other than declaring the concerned leopard a 'man eater', the government should announce a relief amount of Rs 10 lakh each to the family members of children who have been killed by leopards. The government should also take immediate steps necessary to tackle the issue, he added.

"Even in downtown area where a child was killed, there is no street light to make people feel safe," he added.

"I was clearing the shrubs in forest areas where parts of my grandson's body were recovered. I spotted three to four leopards in the area, I was not scared but they ran uphill, they killed our child but forest department people are not serious," said the grandfather of a child who was killed by a leopard recently.

The authorities however claim that they have taken steps from installing cameras to installing traps to capture the animal.

"We had placed 14 cameras earlier and now that has been increased to 30 cameras with 6 cages in Ramnagar, Downdale, Kanlog and Lalpani areas here. We have spotted two leopards, one male and another female. Three cubs have also been spotted. We will try to capture the leopard and would do the physical examination later to establish whether or not it has turned into a man-eater," said Anil Thakur, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of Wildlife Wing.

"We have called a six-member team from Wildlife Institute from Dehradun which is working in collaboration with our local team here," added Thakur

( With inputs from ANI )