INDIA; Professional hunters were hired Friday to stalk and kill three marauding leopards that have killed 14 people in the north eastern state of Assam in the past two months, an official
The attacks prompted 80,000 gets to remain indoors after sunset and officials recruited arm guards for nighttime patrols in the 115squaremile area where they occurred.
The leopards have been roaming the lower portions of the heavily forested Nata Nasa Hills in the Kamrup District, 45 miles north east of the state capital of Guwahati and 1,020 miles northeast of New Delhi.
Fourteen people died in attacks in June and July, Kamrup, district Deputy Commissioner C: K. Das said in an interview in Guwahati,
He said four leopards were believed to be involved in the attacks, which prompted state Forest Department officials to set up cage traps baited with live lambs across the area.
One of the big cats was captured Wednesday night and sent to the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati, but. The others evaded the traps Dasani the Forest Department decided to hire professional hunters to track down the leopards and kill them. He did not say how many “shikaris” Hindi for hunters were recruited.
He said state officials have advised residents of the village of Digesweri, Mandakata and Agiathru to go to their fields in groups.
Families with young children are being sheltered in village community centers protected by armed guards.
The leopards have totally dis located normal life in the foothill areas of the Nata Nasa Hills,” Dasani.
Das said the state has been urged to compensate the families of the leopard’s victims.
Leopards are an endangered species in India, although efforts to increase their numbers by settling them in wildlife reserves have doubled their population to more than 4000 since 1972.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 8, 1986
