A leopard in Haridwar's Rajaji National Park has been shot dead by forest officials after it killed 21 people in the last three years. Since 2014, leopards have killed several people in the region, creating panic among local residents.
Forest officials usually either tranquilize or relocate the leopards in an effort to curb attacks. In the latest case, however, they had no other option but to kill the animal.
Sanatan Sonkar, Director, Rajaji Park said:
This is the 21st incident and this is happening since 2014. We have either tranquilized or shifted five leopards from here. We had found human DNAs in two of them. We were neither able to capture this leopard in cage or by some other means. The last option with us was to shoot the leopard."
