Angry villagers lose patience, attack leopardess with sticks and stones in Karnataka's Chitradurga

Bengaluru: Irate villagers beat a leopardess to death in Chitradurga district of Karnataka on Wednesday. Officials deployed with the forest department in the region told media outlets that locals had already killed the majestic cat by the time rangers arrived at the spot a little after 12 noon. The incident comes as a brazen reminder of the escalating man-animal conflict in various parts of India and particularly in the state of Karnataka where a forest ranger was attacked by a tiger near the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

The incident took place in Kurubarahalli village of Hosadurga taluk of the district. Residents of Kurubarahalli village in Chitradurga claimed that they spotted the big cat resting inside a plantation owned by one Dinesh in the early hours of Wednesday. Expressing their discontent with the forest department, locals alleged that rangers did not respond to their call of help by 12 noon despite being informed about the predator's presence in the area at around 6 am.

Claiming that the big cat attacked their fellow villagers, a group of locals decided to take matters into their own hands after receiving no response from the forest department over the animal's tranquilisation. They then mounted an attack on the leopardess who was behind a bush and drove her to take shelter on top of a mango tree. As the animal lay atop a branch, a group of angry villagers pelted stones at her resulting in her falling down from the tree. She was then thrashed with sticks and incurred severe injuries which later turned out to be fatal.

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An official with the forest department told Deccan Chronicle that the leopardess was limping which made it difficult for the otherwise agile predator to escape the mob. Rangers rushed the animal to a hospital in Chitradurga but the big cat succumbed to her injuries could not reach the destination alive. Responding to claims of negligence on their part, forest officials insisted that they had put up a net to capture the animal and were waiting for permission to tranquilise it when the villagers lost their patience and started attacking the majestic cat.

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Earlier this week, a tiger attacked a forest ranger near  Himavad Gopallswamy Betta in Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve. The official, range forest officer (RFO) Raghvendra suffered injuries and was shifted to the Apollo hospital in Mysuru where his condition is now believed to be stable. However, this is just one of many instances which illustrate India's escalating man-animal conflict. In fact, a report in January of this year had asserted that as many as 45 people lost their lives to the man-animal conflict in Karnataka each year.