'Maneater' leopard shot dead by professional hunter in Uttarakhand

PITHORAGARH: A 'man eater' leopard was shot dead by a professional hunter here hired by the forest department, an official said on Wednesday.

It was the second man eater big cat to have been killed in the district in less than three days.

"The seven-year-old leopard was 6.4 feet long and weighed 60 kgs. She was shot dead after being sighted at 11.30 pm on Tuesday," SDO (forest) Naveen Chandra Pant said.

The animal was active in the area around Chandak village and was killed by Sayyed Bin Hadi, a professional hunter.

The leopard was declared a man eater on October 20 after it killed a woman of Papdev village on October 14.

It had also injured four other people in different villages of the area, he said.

On November 9, a man eater leopard was killed by professional hunter Joy Hukil in Berinag sub-division on the orders of the forest department.