Planning a systematic documentation of Indian Leopards and conflict issues

aww...it is so sad to see those pics and reading your narrative. those poor nepali guys must be devastated, as turpentine is flammable, and so likely cannot survive in such fire. However, i guess leopards and porcupines must have left area smelling the fire. well, at least i hope so!

i wonder why those arsonist had put fire in forest? what might be their motive? were they locals or goons of some local mafia?

"In this photo taken Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, a wild full grown leopard scalps the head of a man as it attacks after wandering into a residential neighborhood in Gauhati, in the northern state of Assam, India. Later the leopard was tranquilized by wildlife official and taken to the state zoological park. The leopard ventured into a crowded area and injured four people before it was captured and caged, local reports said. (AP Photo/Manas Paran, The Sunday Indian)"

there are two more pics but i can't now find them? here's the article link anyway -

http://thesundayindian.com/en/story/...ritical/28191/

Another picture was published in The Hindu today. I was thinking this even should be here: thanks for posting it.

This picture is even more frightening than the one in my paper, which does not show the injury to the man's head.

A BBC link for the same incident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16473569

I wonder what is the need to mention ULFA terrorist attacks in a news report about a leopard attack in city. Even ULFA has not done any major activity in last 10 years or more.

The fact that the leopard was first sighted near a crematorium as mentioned at the bbc news link brings a fact from Jim Corbett's, 'Maneaters of Kumaon' to the mind..."Leopards unlike tigers are to some extent scavengers and become man-eaters by acquiring a taste for human flesh when unrestricted slaughter of game has deprived them of their natural food"
Link to the book...from Page XV second last paragraph to page XVI...http://www.archive.org/stream/maneat...e/n17/mode/2up

Thank goodness nobody shot dead the Guwahati Leopard - i wonder if the state zoological park will release Leopard/relocate back into the forest, or condemn it to a caged life hereafter. Have been worried for our local Leopard, not seen or heard a peep for getting on for two weeks now...

yes...true. Also, it is noted in the narration of Rudraprayag man-eating leopard by Jim Corbett that he perhaps got taste for human flesh after eating bodies of dead people thrown off the cliffs to Alaknanda river. a viral disease killed thousands in that region at that time and instead of cremating every one of them, people quickly disposed off many bodies by throwing them off the cliffs to Alaknanda river hoping it will eventually reach to ganga. may be that explains as well, why leopard was near the crematorium.

As per BBC link i provided earlier, it was released later in Manas Wildlife Sanctuary. A really lucky leopard i guess

Oh that is extremely good news, thank you for informing. I wonder if they tagged it (GPS?) to keep track.

Yes Paleface. The leopard was fixed with microchips for identification.
http://www.arunachaltimes.in/2012/01...fted-to-manas/

Thanks Roxy for the update and link. Good to hear the Leoprd is being tracked then! I had not gathered from the previous report that the Leopard had killed one person (which is usually grounds for shooting it dead).. are we sure this Leopard is one and the same?

Did you see any report of the piles of animals (Lion, Tiger etc) all shot dead in the USA, apparently some crackpot owner had opened the gates on his private zoo & released them all. Nobody had been injured i believe - But just in case all units told to shoot 'em dead on sight... it's not an easy one, but really i'm sure at least one or two could have been caught alive??

Don't mind my asking, bur reading 'The Arunachal Times' in Mumbai is probably not an obscure activity, but do you read it occasionally because you are from there, or simply to follow Leopard reports??

The BBC report did mention that the leopard had killed a man; its is the same leopard.

Yes, I did read the news about the animals being released from the private zoo. Poor animals. Released just to be shot dead!Can't understand Man's obsession to rule over other species.

Gracious no! I do not read the Arunachal Times and neither am I from Arunachal. Your question seemed very logical and made me curious and I googled a few words, got the news and since I got the answer I thought you'd like to know it as well and shared it...Simple!

Right i've got it, sad for the dead one naturally. To be honest i have wondered about being jumped on by a Leopard, seeing as we have several dogs, which do very much attract the attention of Leopard, of which there is at least one mature animal locally; probably a short and very sharp finale. So let's see if we all hear of any reports of the lucky Guwahati Leopard, in time. I'll assume you are a local girl then? But you don't have to reply less you think i'm being too forward..

Well if the Guwahati Leopard has turned into a man-eater, then we will probably hear of it in future and it may not be so lucky next time.

A friend sent me this, though i haven't looked to see if there any newspaper reports about it, not that it matters, the friend is authoritative.

ATTACKS by TRANSIENT LEOPARDS, in MUSSOORIE:

There have been two attacks on humans in the past week in the forested eastern parts of Mussoorie. Both were in Landour (south face) along Tehri Road. One victim got away with scratches, the other needed a bit of medical care, but his injuries are not serious. Both had been walking solo, one incident was even in broad daylight, at 5PM.

Anyhow, it seems this cat is TRANSIENT. Mussoorie's "resident" leopards are not known to attack humans, mainly because there's PLENTY to eat in the area forests. We have analysed local leopard scat for the past 11 years and we know their diet to be - 60% langur monkeys and stray dogs (both abundant) and the remaining - 40% a mix of kakar (barking deer), goral, wild boar, sambar, marten and stray cats. LESSON: "Resident" leopards have no reason to attack humans, as there's food aplenty in our hills.

So, let's assume for now that this was a STRAY cat. Indeed, some wild leopards are nomads, perpetually moving from forest to forest. There were two similar attacks in 2009 in the Suakholi-PPCL area, neither victim was seriously injured. So, let's hope mass hysteria does NOT result from this... which may lead, as it does so often, to random capture/killing of innocent leopards just to pacify the mob.