Killer leopard conundrum: Captive big cat’s future still uncertain
Away from its natural habitat, the fate of a leopard caged in the local wildlife department office still hangs in the balance as officials have yet to decide what to do with him, The Express Tribune learnt on Tuesday.
After killing two children, injuring at least three people and eating several cattle head worth Rs2 million in the forests of Baren
Gali last year, the leopard that carried a Rs10,000 bounty, was trapped while chasing a dog.
The wild cat was later sedated and shifted to the divisional wildlife office on November 27.
Leopards are found in the forests of Margalla, Kaghan, Galyat and Swat. This big cat is a male, over 10 years of age and about 7.5 feet long, including the tail, the official said, adding that there are still over 80 leopards in Galyat.
Sources said that the animal, stressed by unfamiliar surroundings, managed to injure himself thrice after getting annoyed by the stream of visitors from the neighbouring localities coming to see the killer cat.
“My children go there to see the roaring leopard almost daily. They are fascinated to see a killer wild cat,” said Naseer Khan, a resident of Kakul Road.
A wildlife department official confirmed that the leopard’s jaw, tongue and tail were badly injured during his stay at their office, but claimed it had fully recovered. He also said that feeding the leopard is costing the department around Rs15,000 per month.
In reply to a question, the source said that the cat was safe and his health was improving.
He said that releasing the leopard in the jungle was not on the cards, but officials could choose to send the big cat to a zoo or to Hazara University, where animal sciences are taught.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly carried a picture of a snow leopard, which has now been changed.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2012.
COMMENTS (16)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
An animal acted like an animal. Who could have seen that coming? Yeah, the deaths are tragic. Most also won't say it like it is because of the children part of it. But this is one of those things where it's a tragedy, it stays a tragedy and there's no bright side even if you look your hardest. It's one of those situations where you can blame the victim but you simply don't want to because it sounds terrible. But that doesn't mean the animal did anything wrong by the laws of nature.
Picture is not correct ET
They should sell this to some zoo and compensate victims families.
@Zaid Hamid: That is funny.. lol....
@Jan
Zaid hamid gave you the answer.
Sent by India to avenge Mumbai attack. But mard-e-momin captured it.
The key is to learn to live with them. http://www.lgd.org/ It's working for other parts of the world.
No indian comments on this story... please come up with a conspiracy....lol...
@ET
uhh the picture above the article is of a snow leopard not a leopard.
please correct
They should send the animal to the Lalazar Zoo in Nathiagali. Already there are 2 leopards and 1 white snow leopard 'snowy" -which is a cub from central asia.
Will buy it ;-)
@s shah:
The animal is a man-eater now. Releasing it back in the wild will be highly dangerous for the surrounding human settlements.
Just let the poor animal go, Its a leopard not a mad dog to decide what to do with it. These things happen , even human kill each other but we rarely c some justice.
Costing 15000 n thats in rupees wow . Do some math u will find that its nothing i mean nothing compared to corruption we do which is in millions and billions.
I thought we were too busy killing our own people...atleast we should let the animals have a break until all of us have killed each other and theres noone else left to kill..
WWF should get involved before this beautiful leapord is killed by some man to earn bragging rights and put a leapord's head in his house to show off.What can these animals do? humans have encroached on their habitat,humans have invaded their homes.the way the population is expanding,people are taking over more and more of the leapord's territory. The WWF and other international organisations need to save not only this leapord but the few others like it that are still alive in the wild.This poor animal has already been injured numerous times by the gawking hordes of people out to get their cheap thrills at the expense of this poor animal trapped in a cage.
Wish it could be released back into the wild. Animals have no choice but to kill due to rapidly diminishing habitat because encroachment by humans. At least it should be sent to a good zoo. I suspect the Hazara Univ will have v. unsuitable facilities for a wild animal and will probably kill it.