Four people have been killed by a man-eater leopard in Tumakuru over the last six months.
Leopard captured on camera in Tumakuru
After four people were killed by a man-eater leopard in around six months, Tumakuru forest officials have identified as many as 12 leopards in Kunigal, Gubbi and Tumakuru taluks. However, officials find themselves under pressure to pinpoint the man-eater leopard. And this a as a result has delayed a shoot-at-sight order being issued by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Wildlife in Bengaluru to kill the man-eater leopard. There has been mounting pressure on forest officials after a leopard mauled a three-year-old toddler Chandana at Bychanahalli in Tumakuru on Saturday evening. In response to the toddler’s death, Karnataka Forest Minister Anand Singh had said that the government would issue shoot-at-sight orders to kill the leopard. The PCCF, Wildlife in Bengaluru, however, says it will issue the shoot-at-sight order after assessing the situation. “We suspect four leopards to be one of the man-eaters but no confirmation has been arrived at by us. We have kept tabs on leopard movements in Bychanahalli, Bannikuppe, Manikuppe and adjoining villages placing night vision cameras. The 90-day monitoring has identified 12 different leopards to be roaming in the vicinity,” says a forest official involved in the capture of the leopard. Among the four suspected man-eaters, one of them is a female, a male and two sub-adults but officials are unsure which one has been attacking humans, adds the officer noting that the shooting order has therefore been delayed. “Our first priority is to sedate the leopards suspected to be man-eaters.” Officials had on Saturday night captured one leopard but they are unable to confirm if it’s the same animal that killed the child. An official told Times of India that the leopard’s pugmarks are being examined with the marks found outside the child’s house. Pointing to the 2018 case in Ballari, where a leopard had mauled a nine-year-old girl and attacked two other persons in Sandur taluk, sources say, “In that case it was a single suspected man-eater leopard and was identified easily. It was shot dead, bringing leopard attacks under control in the district. But in Tumakuru, there are four leopards and we are not sure which one is the man-eater.” In order to capture the leopards, forest officials have kept cages and veterinarian Murali has been readied to dart and sedate the animal upon sighting. According to forest officials, leopards normally come out in the evening between 5.30 pm to 7 pm when grazing livestock animals return from fields. It is when grazing animals are returning that leopards attack. Some leopards feed on stray dogs especially at around 9 pm or 2 am, say officials. Meanwhile, fear grips the residents of Bychanahalli, Bannikuppe and surrounding villages, with residents hesitant to move out of their houses after dark. On Monday night, a resident on a two-wheeler near Bychanahalli village sighted two leopards, forcing villagers to scream to drive away the leopards from the vicinity. While a number of wildlife activists have criticised the shoot-at-sight order, a conservationist, who did not wish to be named, came out in favour of shooting the man-eater leopard in Tumakuru. He argues that villagers may otherwise take the law into their own hands, by resorting to poisoning or killing them in retaliation for the human deaths. “The situation demands a practical approach to the problem rather than looking at in an emotional way,” he says. The conservationist attributes the rise in man-leopard conflict to the loss of habitat, noting that conservation measures have helped increase the leopard population. “While human population grows, the natural habitat has been shrinking bringing leopards in conflict with humans. While leopards normally prey upon small animals, these big cats are now hunting stray dogs and livestock,” he says. Kumar, a gram panchayat member of Banikuppe, says “We have requested forest officials to shoot the man-eater leopards. The conflict with leopards has gone up in the region in the last four months.”
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