Leopard injured another villager in Kashmir

Srinagar Mar 7 (UNI) A villager was attacked and critically wounded by a leopard in the frontier district of Kupwara where heaviest snowfall in 20 years forced the wild animals to come down.

Official sources said one Abdul Hamid Sheikh was attacked by a leopard at Teli Mohalla Shaloora in north Kashmir. However, before other villages could rescue him, he was critically wounded, the sources said, adding the leopard was later captured by the wildlife department officials. The injured was hospitalised.

After unprecedented snowfall, people living in upper reaches in the Kashmir valley were now facing a threat from wild animals who had come down from woods in search of food.

The Wildlife Department has directed people living in villages adjacent to forests to remain cautious against the movement of wild animals who have now turned towards plains in the wake of heavy snowfall on upper reaches.

In a village at Anantnag in south Kashmir a leopard killed 16 sheep and injured 15 others in February.

A musk deer was captured by the Jammu and Kashmir police in the outskirts of the city early last week and handed over to the wildlife authorities at Dachigam.

Official sources said more than two dozen people were killed and about 40 others were wounded by wild animals in the Kashmir valley during the past one year.

However, in retaliation, people had also killed four wild animals in the valley during the same period. A number of animals loving organisations have protested against these killings. However, villagers rejected these protests saying the wild animals had killed and injured people, including women and small children.

Reports of attack on villagers by wild animals during the past fortnight have been received from different areas in north and south Kashmir.

UNI BAS DS YA KP1553