Mother of two cubs, leopard brought down dead from tree top by AK-47 in Budgam

Wildlife officials say predator was man-eater, residents claim leopard groups of Damodhar Karewa, Abhinav Gupta caves have never harmed human beings

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, May 1: On an order issued by the State Wildlife authorities in controversial conditions, Police have shot dead a female leopard, who was mother to two cubs, in Ichhigam village, close to the district headquarters of Budgam in Central Kashmir on Thursday. The common leopard weighing around 100 kg, which was brought down from the top of a 70 ft tall popular tree with AK-47 gunshots, is officially declared as endangered species and stands protected by virtue of its inclusion in the top critical schedules of the State and the Central wildlife law.

Wildlife Warden (Wetlands) Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone claimed that the female leopard was a "man-eater" as it had killed a girl in Beerwah area of upper Budgam sometime back and the big cat had grown as a threat to the life of human population. He said that the men of Police Station Budgam shot dead the leopard, hiding under the foliage of a tall poplar tree, after a team of the Department of Wildlife Protection failed in "repeated attempts" to tranqulise and seize the animal alive.

"I issued the order of killing this leopard after getting reasonably convinced that it was the same predator which had killed a girl at Sutaharan and injured over a dozen men in another attack at Hayyatpora in Beerwah area. I issued the order only after it was under law approved by Chief Wildlife Warden (Deepak Khanna)", Mr Lone told State Times. He said that the animal was lawfully destroyed after burial in a deep pit so as to ensure that nobody takes out it's precious skin or organs for trade, trophy or other purposes. He said even on attacking and injuring a human being, the leopard needs to be declared as "man-eater" and killed as after such an experience it prefers to target humans rather than the animals, like dogs, cows and deer it usually sustains on.

"Over 10,000 people had gathered around the spot. Their hysterical actions frightened the leopard. Our team fired tranquiliser dots but it was too high to be hit. Thereafter we were left with no option than to kill her with a rifle", Mr Lone said.

However two senior officials, who have served in Department of Wildlife Protection insisted on condition of anonymity that the endangered animals cannot be shot dead in this manner. "It's a serious violation of the wildlife law. We can issue order of elimination only after getting substantial evidence of the animal being a man-eater. The attack on a girl has happened long back at Sutaharan which is 25 Km from Ichhigam. Those injured in Hayyatpora, 20 km away, were attacked in self defence by the leopard who was later lynched to death and hanged in an extremely objectionable manner", said a former official. He suggested that the leopards seen in Beerwah were a different group.

Mr Lone maintained that the same animal had attacked men around Beerwah. He, however, admitted that the people of Hayyatpora lynched a leopard in unlawful manner as it had only intruded into a stable and killed 13 sheeps of one Habib Sheikh.

"Two teams from our department were on the look out for the man-eater. We are sure it alone had killed a girl at Sutaharan. We laid cages with bait at several places in Budgam-Beerwah belt but it couldn't be seized alive", he said. He disclosed that Range Officer Wildlife had taken note of the objectionable pictures and written to SHO Beerwah that a criminal case should be registered under law against the people who had killed and put a leopard on exhibition on the day when a civilian died in Police firing in Narbal last fortnight.

Eyewitnesses in Ichhigam and adjoining villages claimed that a big leopard with two cubs had been spotted in movement at several places in last two months. They said the predator group seemed to have taken shelter on western side of Damodhar Karewa outside the fencing wall of Indian Air Force base and Srinagar Airport. Ghulam Mohammad Dar of Khanpora Budgam said that these leopards had not attacked anybody in the whole area.

Mohammad Yousuf Dar of Beerwah town told State Times that residents would routinely spot 6 leopards, sometimes in a group, in the last 4 years. "We see them four to six times a month regularly. Their shelter is in the famous Abhinav Gupta caves atop a hillock over Beerwah. It is less than 500 metres from my home. Once I spotted a leopard just 20 ft from me. I turned my torch on it and it ran away. They eat dogs and sometimes cows or sheep but they never attack humans", Mr Dar said. He said on December 5 last year, one of the 6 leopards was captured in an iron cage by officials but it escaped. Ten days later, it's body was recovered from a stream. "It had perhaps jumped down the slope and died while escaping", he said.

According to Mr Dar, residents of Hayyatpora killed another leopard, without reasonable provocation last fortnight. "If two of the leopards have been killed and a cub has been captured in Goripora, only three of this group are now left at Abhinav Gupta caves. I don't think the leopards spotted around Srinagar Airfield and the one shot dead in Ichhigam do belong to the Beerwah group", he maintained.

Official statistics in Central Kashmir mention that only two leopards died due to "natural death" while as 26 were chased away from April 2014 to March 2015.

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