Villagers Kill another Endangered Leopard in Galiyat
Pak Chronicle
Abbottabad
Villagers belonging to Kasala area, Galiyat have killed a leopard to take revenge of their three goats which were reportedly killed by it to satisfy its hunger.
The villagers in Galiyat, Abbottabad, KPK have killed another endangered leopard which has put question mark on the performance of the department concerned.
According to well-placed sources in relevant quarters a female leopard was killed by the locals in the area of Kasala, Galiyat.
The female leopard was pregnant by two cubs and it was supposed to deliver these cubs in 10 to 15 days. The leopard was itself six years old and carrying two cubs in its womb which she was about to deliver in maximum two weeks.
Pak Chronicle has reliably learnt that the leopard in question a day before her killing had hunted three goats of some villagers.
When it went to eat its hunted goats, the villagers were ready to take revenge of their goats. They fired multiple bullets on it through pallet guns. The leopard received five bullets on different part of its body.
However, this is learnt, it ran away from this shooting spree and later on found dead somewhere else. The wildlife department recovered its body and sent it to Abbottabad for postmortem in Civil Veterinary Hospital.
This is not the first case of killing of leopard in the Galiyat region as cases like it have also been reported earlier on number of occasions.
Pakistan is blessed with sizeable population of leopard in different areas of Galiyat. However, cases of its killing due to some reasons keep occurring which may prove fatal for its existence.
The human population is growing and it needs more places for dwellings while the areas of the forests is no longer increasing.
The forests lack food resources for these leopards and this phenomenon compel them to attack goats/sheep in nearby villages to satisfy their hunger. In some cases they have also killed some local persons. Killing of human being or their pet animals always result in grudge against this creature.
As there is no compensation by the government for affected villagers, the people in the area shoot these uninvited leopards when they find a chance to do so.
This is pertinent to mention here that Wildlife Department imposes heavy fine on the person who is found guilty of shooting and killing leopards.
There is need to create awareness amongst the locals to avoid the killing of leopards. Moreover, the government should devise a strategy of compensation if someone loses his animal on account of attack of these leopards. Otherwise, announcing and imposing huge fines would not serve any purpose for population growth of these animals.
The common leopard are commonly known in Pakistan as Guldar or Taindwa and it got the status of protected species in Gallies Forest.
This is pertinent to mention here that areas like Khaira Galli, Galiyat, Donga Galli, Bara Galli, Koza Galli etc as whole constitute Gallies Forest.
The common leopard is also known as Seenn locally and it’s regarded as endangered species worldwide.
Pakistan lacks scientific mechanism to calculate exact figure of its population in Gallies Forest so it is hard to say as how many leopards are inhabiting in these forests. However, according to some estimates approximately 40 pairs of them are inhabiting in Gallies Forest and roughly 10 pairs of it are inhabiting in the Makhnial Region. Makhnial Region is also part of Abbottabad Forest Division.
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