Shoot-at-sight orders issued for Udaipur's man-eater leopard after 7th kill

UDAIPUR/JAIPUR: Still elusive after claiming seven victims over 13 days, the killer leopard of Udaipur's Gogunda hills was on Tuesday officially declared a man-eater. The forest department also issued shoot-at-sight orders for the leopard and deployed at least four trained shooters to hunt down the cat.
Army and police shooters were asked to spread out in the neghbourhood, including atop a house in Kelvo ka Kheda village in Gogunda, after the leopard killed 55-year-old Kamla Kanwar while she was tending to her cattle in front of her house on Tuesday morning.In an order, chief wildlife warden Pawan Upadhyay directed forest officials to first attempt to tranqilise the leopard, failing which it should be shot dead. Forest officials said the leopard was believed to be in a radius of 3-4 km after its last kill. Since it attacked the woman despite cattle being available - a trait seen in earlier incidents, too, including the first one on Sept 18, when it attacked a young girl grazing goats - the leopard, officials said, has been declared a man-eater.
Upadhyay said gauging from the proximity of the two villages where the last two incidents occurred - they are only one km apart - it has been concluded that the same leopard is responsible for both attacks.
"A shooter has been deployed on the terrace of Kanwar's house as the wild cat is expected to return to claim the woman's body. Forest teams have been deployed, including additional shooters in other areas. The animal has been identified and its image captured by a drone in the nearby areas," the official said.