Rawat seeks action plan to reduce leopard forays into

Expressing concern over rise in incidents of leopard attacks in residential areas of the city, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today asked the forest department to prepare a detailed action plan to effectively deal with the problem.
With a teenaged girl killed by a leopard near the Forest Research Institute in the city on Saturday evening, Rawat summoned a team of forest department officials here to share with them his concern over rise in such incidents.
Asking them to grapple with the problem seriously, the Chief Minister said a detailed and effective action plan should be drawn up to reduce the big cat's growing forays into residential areas.

"It seems the number of leopards in Uttarakhand has risen beyond the state's capacity to accommodate them. A proposal should be sent to the Centre to shift the excess population of leopards outside the state," an official release quoting the Chief Minister said.
One procreation centre each for small animals in all forest divisions including the deer should be developed and one leopard safari each be developed in Kumaon and Garhwal regions, Rawat suggested.
He also suggested that solar lights be made available to villages located close to forest areas.
A ten-year-old boy had been mauled to death by a leopard in Prem Nagar area of the city a few months ago.