Leopard mauls four-year-old to death in Uttarakhand

A four-year-old Nepalese girl was killed by a leopard when she was playing outside her house in a village in Bageshwar district, a forest department official said today.

The incident occurred yesterday in the village of Tuped. The leopard attacked Sarita Yogi, daughter of Nepalese labourer Devendra Yogi, and dragged her to a nearby forest area, Divisional Forest Officer (Bageshwar) A K Sharma said.

Sarita's mutilated body was recovered this morning and handed over to her relatives after a postmortem, Sharma said.

The residents of Tuped demanded that the leopard be declared a "man-eater".

"Our school-goingchildrenare in panic after the incident," said Jagat Singh Khetwal, a local.

"We have ordered our staff to install a cage to trap the leopard. We are considering whether to declare it a man- eater," the DFO said.