Palamu regional forest conservator recommends killing of 'aberrant' leopard on the prowl

DALTONGANJ: The regional chief conservator of forest (Palamu), Kumar Ashutosh, on Tuesday sent a recommendation to the state chief wildlife warden, Shashikar Samanta, to kill the "man-eating" leopard of Garhwa though the animal is yet to be declared as a man-eater.
Forest officials, however, said "man-eater" and "aberrant wild animal" means the same.
Talking to TOI, Ashutosh confirmed that he has sent the recommendation to the chief wildlife warden.
On why the animal has not been declared a man-eater, he said, "The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines describe such wild animals as aberrant. So, we go by this terminology. The chances of tranquillising the leopard is getting remote now, hence, the recommendation to kill it."
Ashutosh added that several days have elapsed since the last kill by this leopard on December 28 and it continues to be "invisible".
Section 11(1) a of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 empowers only the chief wildlife warden to permit any person to hunt such aberrant animals.
He said, "The Hyderabad-based hunter, Shafath Ali Khan, did sight it with the help of his advanced vision tool but at the distance of 82 meters and tranquillizing it was out of the question. An aberrant wildlife can be sedated if it is within the 30 meters range of the hunter who has sighted it. We believe the chief wildlife warden will issue the order to kill this aberrant leopard soon."