60-year-old woman mauled to death by leopard in Nainital, second attack in fortnight

DEHRADUN

: A 60-year-old woman was

mauled

to death by a

leopard

when she went to collect fodder for cattle in Manora forest range of

Nainital forest division

. Deceased

Uma Devi

was a resident of Saun village. This is the second

leopard attack

in a fortnight in the same area, leading to the conviction that the same leopard is behind both attacks. According to Nainital divisional forest officer (DFO) Bijulal (who uses only his first name), forest teams have installed cages and camera traps and are trying to find the leopard.

A process has also been initiated to give the woman’s family Rs 3 lakh compensation.

The previous attack was on June 23 in Sonkot village of

Ramnagar area

, when a 58-year-old woman was mauled to death. A similar attack had taken place in Belpadav forest area of Ramnagar on June 8, when a leopard dragged away and killed a teenage girl while she was listening to music on earphones. “Saturday’s incident took place on the border of Ramnagar and Nainital forest divisions. It is the act of the same leopard as all these attacks happened in close vicinity of each other. The sites merely fall under separate forest divisions but are all in

Nainital district

. They are 1.5 km apart as the crow flies,” said DFO Bijulal.