Kotdwar, Sept 13 (PTI) A four-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in the Chaubattakhal area of Pauri district in Uttarakhand, a forest official said on Saturday.
Riya was playing on the balcony
of her house on Friday evening when the leopard pounced upon her and dragged her away, the official said.
Her mother raised an alarm and ran after the leopard, which left the child in a field about 50 metres from the house and ran away. By the time the family members reached the spot, the child was dead, the forest conservator of Garhwal Circle, Akash Verma, said.
As soon as the information was received, teams from the administration, forest department and health department reached the spot.
The deceased was the youngest of two sisters. The family was preparing to celebrate her birthday on September 17, for which her father Jitendra Singh Rawat came to the village from Mumbai.
A forest department team has been deployed in the area where two cages have been installed to capture the big cat, Verma said, adding that three more cages are being installed.
The last rites of the girl were not performed till Saturday evening, as the family insisted on issuing an order to kill the leopard, before Lansdowne Divisional Forest Officer Jeevan Mohan Degade convinced them about the efforts being made to capture the animal.
Locals claimed that leopards are often seen in the area, insisting that the government must take special steps to ensure people's safety. PTI COR ALM ARI
