Two days after the government raised the compensation from 4 to 6 lakhs for the dead victims of maneater attacks, a mentally deranged person killed by maneater in a highway adjacent Corbett Tiger Reserve !

Sounds, astonishing and shocking that while just a day or two before the Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the forest minister Subodh Uniyal has raised the monetary compensation limit from four to six lakhs for the dead victims killed by maneaters and other wild animals including raising the limit of injured to Rs one lakh, just a day after the maneater has made a young boy its immediate prey attacking him and dragging into the jungle where after several hours his half eaten mutilated body was recovered. On Tuesday, the maneater on prowl for human flesh made a young boy his immediate prey at the highway adjacent to the periphery of Corbett tiger reserve, dragging him inside the jungle and filling its belly leaving behind the half eaten mutilated body behind which was traced after 15 hours of the dreaded incident. The victim was reportedly mentally retarded. Such dreaded incidents of human maneater confrontations have become the order of the day in Garhwal and Kumaon divisions of Uttarakhand with school going children, women working in fields and senior citizens becoming their immediate prey. There had been several incidents of old aged women and children being dragged from their house compounds to nearby jungles and killed by maneaters in Pauri Garhwal, Chamoli , Pithoragarh and Nainital districts. Few months ago in the same highway adjacent to Corbett National Tiger Reserve a pillow rider was, attacked by man eater on running motorbike. The hungry maneater pounced upon the pull on rider, dragged him to the nearby forest and enjoyed the human meal. The highly mutilated body of the victim was found after intensive search several kilometres away. Just few days ago a video went viral in social media when in Almora district two women while walking in a wide open mountain pathway were openly attacked by a maneater leopard. However, after the women who took some acrobatics by the man eater’s forceful push who tried to harm them physically got scared by the shouts made by the victims n ran away. In Uttarakhand there had also been several incidents of maneaters entering houses in villages, roadsides and even towns and dragging children, women n senior citizens to nearby jungles making them their immediate pray. The human maneater conflict is nothing new and has been going on for several decades by after the unfriendly development taking place, increase in vehicular movement on roads, widening of roads, felling of trees n jungles, construction near jungles n excessive sound pollution have resulted in small animals, running away and man eaters finding shortage of food. Hence they turn towards human habitats and make human beings their easy prey. Once tasted human blood they go for more human preys and the cycle continues unless these predators are captured or killed by professional hunters. Apart from this – during massive fires in Uttarakhand forests in summer seasons which too has become a general happening – the flora, and fauna is badly damaged with wild animals literally roasted inside cohesive jungles , small and big wandering here and there for safe hideouts. Not finding suitable hideouts these carnivores run for shelter in villages especially the vacant ones where the human populace have migrated to towns n cities for jobs, better educational prospects for their children and better job opportunities. Though there is no fixed report card on maneater human kills but by a conservative thinking on every three days there is a human kill by maneaters in any part of Uttarakhand sometimes even more.