Maneater killed the same day (evening) to on 10 th June after it brutally killed a woman of Dabra village in Chowbattakhal.
The female maneater ( Guldaar) who brutally killed a 55 year old woman in village Dabra, post office Chamraau, Chowbattakhal, Pokhra of Pauri Garhwal district sending shock waves across the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand a day before yesterday have been mowed down by the shooter hired by the forest department on the very day viz 10 th June, 2020 giving relief to the villagers and the inhabitants of surrounding villages who were in the state of immense shock n terror.
The woman namely Godavari Devi wife of Lalit Sundriyal had gone as usual to work in her agricultural field in the morning at 10 .30. A female maneater was clandestinely on the look out for human flesh who all of a sudden grabbed her by her jaws and dragged in the near by bushes.
The fellow villagers hearing her cries raised an alarm by shouting loudly but by the time she left the grievously injured woman by the neck, profusely bleeding succumbed to her injuries on the spot.
After this brutal kill of the woman, grabbed from the neck, the villagers n inhabitants of the surrounding villages were extremely furious n in anger and protested demanding getting rid of the Man-eater by shooting her.
After the increasing pressure of the protesting villagers, the forest department issued orders for killing of the Man-eater n hired a professional shooter.
They kept vigilant eyes on the movement of the Man-eater in the area. The senior officer of Forest department J. S. Suhag issued orders for declaring the Guldaar ( leopard) a maneater and directed for tranquilizing her first n trap it in the iron cages or in case this is not possible may be shot forthwith.
According to Vinod Raturi, an eye witness, belonging to the same village, the female maneater was roaming around in search of another human flesh in the evening who again visited the same area where she had brutally killed the woman. The vigilant professional shooter left no chance and shot the maneater there and then in the evening giving tremendous relief to the villagers of Pokhra Block.
According to sources this being the political constituency of Satpal Maharaj, minister tourism, who is an elected lawmaker from here has played an important role in getting the orders declaring the leopard, maneater n get rid of it, issued in such a short span giving relief to the terrorised residents of Chowbattakhal.
It may recalled that more than three hundred humans have been killed by man eaters in Uttarakhand in a decade till 2020 n 60 man eaters shot by professional shooters in various parts of Uttarakhand during the last 19 years, though this figure may go up as figures variate from time to time. About two thousand people have been injured some grievously as well.
However, the fact remains that on an average several persons are becoming usual preys of the man eaters in various parts of Uttarakhand every week n in some cases twice a week, especially the women working in agricultural fields, school going children in remote villages, old aged persons n even youngsters.
The majority of Guldaars have become man eaters roaming around the agricultural fields, near human habitats on roadsides, particularly near forest areas and even inside towns in search of human flesh as there is immense dearth of domestic animals n food inside jungles. In several cases they have grabbed children, women from fields n dragged them to the nearby bushes or jungles killing them brutally.
There have been several cases of wild bears as well, attacking men n women. The increasing road construction works n buildings coming up near the jungles including increasing traffic movement n sound pollution etc have totally disturbed the wild animals especially during summers’ massive jungle fires compelling carnivores to come near human habitats in prowl for human flesh etc.
It has been visualised that during the last decade the incidents of animal ( carnivores) human interactions have increased tremendously leading to loss of human lives as well as the maneater kills on the rise.
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Very nice report. In fact this place is very closely to my native place. There is a resentment among residents against local MLA Satpal singh Rawat @ Maharaj.
De-forestation in Uttarakhand is in rise. Wild animals are finding no place to hide . Corruption in forest deptt is deep rooted and data regrading flora and fauna of forests on papers is far different from what is actually on ground. None cares. Even village people are helping de-forestation….WHERE WILL WILD ANIMAL GO ????
Appreciate Sir. Uttarakhand is worse in terms of data. You go for search for exact figures . There is literally no information except news reports of leading papers and the statistics differed tremendously. One can’t reach to any definite conclusion as to how may man eaters were killed n data about human tragedies. The figures differ in every report. There is total confusion. You have rightly said that figures on flora n fauna differs with actual happening on the ground. Statistics about Forest fires, flora n fauna n wild life casualties especially of carnivores n human losses by man eaters etc also differ adversely.
Sunil Negi