A 60-year-old man tragically died in a leopard attack in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district, sparking protests over delayed responses from local authorities and highlighting the escalating human-wildlife conflict in the region.
A 60-year-old man was mauled to death by a leopard in Kamand village of Pauri block on Friday, while he was collecting fodder for his cattle, officials said.
The victim, Mohan alias Mahesh Chandra Malasi, went to the fields near his village between 6.30 pm and 7 pm. Family members and villagers launched a search when he did not return home.
They found Malasi's mutilated body inside the bushes after a long search.
Garhwal Forest Division SDO Aisha Bisht said the department received information about the incident around 9 pm. A joint team of forest, police, and revenue officials reached the spot immediately after the alert.
Local leaders from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal reached the spot and staged a protest, alleging that police "failed to respond to multiple phone calls" following the incident. They also expressed anger over the "delayed" arrival of forest department officials.
The protesters declared they would not allow the removal of the body until the district magistrate arrived at the scene, claiming that this was the seventh such incident in the region recently.
Pauri MLA Rajkumar Pori also reached the spot to interact with the grieving family and villagers.