AR-News: Leopards hunt humans in Indian park

[jim robertson]

Leopards hunt humans in Indian park
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Posted: 10:56 AM EDT (1456 GMT)

BOMBAY, India (AP) -- Leopards from a national park on the edge of Bombay, 
India's largest city, have killed 10 people this month -- prompting forest 
officials to let loose pigs and rabbits to feed the big cats.

The killings are up sharply from previous years, and six of this month's 
deaths occurred outside the park as leopards extended their range in search 
of food.

Traps are being set up outside the park. A low voltage electric fens will be 
built to prevent the estimated 30 leopards from leaving Sanjay Gandhi 
National Park.

In the next few weeks, 500 wild boar and 40 deer will be released as leopard 
prey.

This month's deaths bring the year's toll to 14, and five other people were 
mauled. Fifteen deadly leopard attacks were reported last year, and 11 in 
2002.

Conservationists say some 11,000 squatters live illegally in the park and 
about 1 million people live in nearby suburbs.

"Leopards are not creating the problem, man is," chief forest conservator 
Prem Yaduvendu told The Associated Press. "The forest is meant for wild 
animals and not for people."

Environmentalist Sunjoy Monga termed the attacks accidental. He said poultry 
and goats grazing on the park's boundaries were the leopards' actual 
targets.

"From the marks at the attack sites it is quite clear the leopards are 2- to 
3-year-old animals moving in peripheral areas of the park where stray dogs 
are an abundant source of food supply," Monga said.

Before dawn Monday, a leopard dragged an 18-year-old boy from a doorless, 
tin-roofed hut wedged on a hill bordering the park. Relatives said his cries 
for help roused them, but the leopard had ripped out the boy's throat.

In a separate incident, a 52-year-old man was killed Monday by a leopard 
while sleeping near a Muslim shrine just inside the park.

Residents have demanded adequate lights and patrols.

This month, three leopards have been caught outside the park and caged by 
forest officials. They will released in other forests in western Maharashtra 
state.

The forest -- spread over 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) -- was 
made a national park in the 1970s. As Bombay expanded, apartment buildings 
were constructed along the park's edge and squatters moved into the park.



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Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.



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the art of being kind is all this sad world needs.
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