Shopian: A leopard was killed by locals of Pathan village in south Kashmir on Wednesday after it allegedly injured a person who was taking bath in a local stream.
Officials from the wildlife department told Kashmir Reader that there was no report to the department about spotting of any wild animal in the area. They said that later in the afternoon they received information from the police control room that there was a leopard carcass lying in the village, after which a team was sent to the spot for retrieving the body.
Range Officer Khursheed Iqbal told Kashmir Reader that as per initial reports, a “mob” killed the leopard after it allegedly injured a man. “We have registered a police case in this regard and postmortem of the animal has been also done,” he said.
On the 21st of this month a leopard was rescued by wildlife officials from Meminder area of Shopian.
Earlier this year in the month of January, a leopard was killed at Oudur village of Shopian after the animal mauled nine sheep belonging to a local resident.
According to wildlife experts, cases of man-animal conflict have risen after the heavy snowfall in upper reaches of the district in the month of January. They said that since the January snowfall, dozens of reports of spotting of wild animals in human habitations have been received from south Kashmir where many such animals were rescued and then released in department-designated wildlife habitats.
Khursheed Iqbal said that spotting of leopards in human areas suggests that the animals come there in search of food due to heavy snowfall in forests. “The number of cases reported also suggests that leopard numbers have increased, which is a positive sign,” he said.
Iqbal appealed to people to not take the law in their hands but report such cases to the department, after which swift action will be taken to relocate the animal.

Raashid Hassan