Forest department officials gunned down a leopard, believed to have killed a Nepali labourer last month, at Bara in Pauri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand on Saturday.

"We had put up cages and traps to catch the animal, but failed. Finally, we resolved to kill it to prevent any further loss of human lives,” Mahatim Yadav, divisional forest officer of Garhwal, said.

A forest department team had killed a leopard at Dobhal Dhandri in Pauri last month. It had killed a man and injured a woman.

According to the state's forest department, 85 wild animals, including 62 leopards and 23 bears, strayed into human settlements between July 2025 and January 2026. The department was able to cage 34 leopards, but no bear could be trapped.

These animals have killed 13 people in the state between January 1 and February 12.

"The leaders of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal had submitted a memorandum to the authorities in Pauri Garhwal two days ago, demanding measures to curb man-animal conflict in the district. Teams were deployed to tranquilise the leopard, but they failed. Finally, we decided to kill it,” Yadav said.

Ashutosh Negi, state vice-president of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, said leopards had mauled to death four people and injured half a dozen in the district in the last three months. "The villagers are living in terror. Several leopards are roaming the villages. Killing cannot be a solution. The government must try to understand why the animals are venturing out of the forests in search of food.”

He said mindless exploitation of forests and hills should be stopped immediately so that wild animals don’t feel insecure in their own habitat.

“We had requested the government to distribute search lights among villagers to mitigate man-animal conflict, but our demand was ignored,” he said.