Maneater enters a house in Pithoragarh’s Berinag new bazaar area

Terror of maneater leopards and tigers in Uttarakhand hills remain intact and attacks of these predators on human lives go unabated with several incidents being witnessed within the last few months.

Fatal accidents and maneater attacks seem to have become the order of the day in this Himalayan state with no concrete remedy in sight either from the government or from the outside agencies.

Now the situation has become so threatening and awry that the maneaters are entering the busy townships in hectic bazaars and even entering houses. This trend is extremely dangerous as these hungry carnivores are now least bothered of human threat or fear of retaliation.

Just today morning a maneater leopard entered a house with grills at Berinag’s new bazaar area in Pithoragarh. The leopard was least worried about human retaliation or threat. Thus creating an environment of terror in the entire region with hundreds of anxious and curious residents.

The highly terrorized residents called the forest department officials to catch the wild cat which took several hours to trap.  The maneater was holed up in the house. People living in Berinag’s new bazaar area are extremely terrified and worried as it can enter other houses as well in the near future and thus attack them.

There had been several incidents of maneater attacks in Pithoragarh and its surroundings when children were literally grabbed and killed after being dragged a few meters away in the jungle leaving their half-eaten mutilated bodies behind. Several senior citizens had also been their prey walking on roadsides. Even women working in agricultural fields have been attacked by these wild cats.

These man-eaters are on the prowl for human flesh on roadsides and near the houses adjoining the forest areas. These maneaters, despite being a direct threat to human lives in the hill areas of Uttarakhand are being protected as endangered species with human beings protection and safety taking a back seat which is quite a disturbing trend.

It has been revealed that about 400 to 500 leopards and tigers have been counted in the Uttarakhand hills by the wildlife department but the majority of them have been categorized as maneaters. It’s indeed a great threat to human lives.

Due to excessive construction activities near the jungle sites and vast deforrestation, there is a dearth of animal flesh/ prey in the forests for these species and this has resulted in an influx of these dreaded animals towards human settlements making children, women and senior citizens an easy prey.

There was a time since two/ three decades ago when the forests were dense and there was no human activity and interference in the forest areas. However, the natural flora and fauna have been badly disturbed after modernization, construction of roads and other commercial activities near river banks. Increasing sound pollution due to heavy traffic rush in the hills including dynamite explosion in various road development activities to destroy or demolish rocky mountains have also contributed to deforestation.

Therefore while the animal flesh is missing inside jungles due to immense migration of people there is a tremendous dearth of pet cows, bulls and dogs which earlier used to be the food of these maneaters.

This lack of food has made these leopards and tigers prowl in large numbers on roadsides near forests in search of human flesh and even enter houses to grab children to satiate their hunger.

Unfortunately, the wildlife department of Uttarakhand has completely failed to track these dreadful maneaters and cage them by using tranquilizing shots who are now a grave threat to human lives in the hills of Garhwal and Kumaon regions.

It may be recalled that a few days earlier a maneater had killed a forest guard in Sindhikhal Lansdowne forest division during patrolling.  In another incident, a running motorcyclist in Bauntiyal Sidhikhal road was attacked, gravely injuring him in the Tiger Reserve Forest Area in Pauri Garhwal district.

In Paabo block too a maneater killed a man on the way home from hotel duty in the night. An injured tiger was trapped too at Paabo block. Several children were brutally killed in Pithoragarh district during the past months and a school going girl in Pauri Garhwal district.

A year ago a maneater had entered a house in Dehradun who could not be trapped by the forest department in the absence of tranquilizing guns. Maneater killings, unfortunately, has almost become a regular phenomenon in Uttarakhand.