LUCKNOW, July 9: After killer wolves, it's now the turn of man-eater leopards to terrorise Uttar Pradesh. While a leopard was killed by residents in a village near Lucknow on July 6, another has been on the prowl in Pauri district of Garhwal hills for the past one year. According to reports, the leopard has already killed as many as 14 people in Pauri in the past three months.``The leopard was declared a man-eater on June 26 and orders have been issued for its elimination,'' said Dr Ashok Singh, additional principal, chief conservator of forests (wildlife). Though frightened villagers burnt a leopard, trapped in a cage, alive in Pali Dhanparia village of Pauri, the menace is far from over and reports indicate that two or three leopards, which have turned man-eaters, are on the prowl in the district.Even though reports of leopard attacks in the hills is nothing new, the July 6 incident in Sonua village, just 20 km from Lucknow, has caused panic among people and officials alike. The leopard, which attacked the village in the morning was caught in a trap laid by the villagers and killed at around 3 pm. However, it had by then injured nearly a dozen people. Wildlife experts here believe that the leopard might have sneaked into the village from villages in Lakhimpur in search of prey.Meanwhile, alarmed at the increasing forays of the leopard in Pauri, the forest department has worked out an elaborate plan to stop the menace. ``We are closely observing the leopard's movement and are hopeful that soon our team will overpower the agile animal,'' said Singh. About leopards turning into man-eaters, Singh said it was a sequel to depleting forest cover and resultant decrease in prey for the animal. ``These factors force the leopard to search for food outside the jungle,'' he said.According to figures, the number of victims of the leopard in Pauri district during the previous year and past three months has crossed 25 while scores have been injured.Interestingly, the forest department had constituted a man-eater tigers' cell in 1981 when the terror was at its peak in Dudhwa National Park. Forest trackers were recruited to this cell to monitor the movement of man-eating tigers and leopards and kill them but the unit is non-existent at present. The trackers have been relocated in the department as forest guards.A senior official said, had this cell been in operation, the situation would have been different.
