SRINAGAR: A leopard blamed for attacking half a dozen people in north Kashmir was brutally stoned to death by angry villagers, media reports said on Tuesday.
The leopard which had injured villagers, including women and children, in Gulgam area of Kupwara was attacked from all directions, even after wildlife officials sedated it.
“The police and wildlife officials reached the spot and successfully tranquilised the animal to evacuate it to some safer place,” TNS qouted police as saying.
The animal died on the spot. It is not clear if authorities will be filing a case against the villagers.
Wildlife officials say Leopard and Himalayan black bear populations have increased after a ban on hunting was enforced in Kashmir in 1970, and that the loss of pine forests increased contact between animals and humans.
However experts also believe that the presence of security forces deep in the forests to fight armed rebels forced wild animals to leave their habitat and encounter human settlements.
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Wild bears and leopards besides other animals are now frequently killing people and livestock.
Over half a dozen people have been killed so far this year by wild animals, and scores of others have been injured, wildlife officials say.
Authorities have set up control rooms and are distributing leaflets urging people living near forests to take precautions to prevent more casualties.
Police say at least six bears and leopards have been killed by villagers and authorities in the last ten months after attacking local people.
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