Lalit Kumar, TNN, Feb 15, 2011, 10.56pm IST

GHAZIABAD: A feline leopard was cudgelled to death by a mob in a village in Garhmukteshwar on Monday evening even as forest department officials waited for a tranquilizer dart fired at the cat to take effect. The leopard had earlier seriously injured two policemen and had caused minor injuries to five of the hundreds of villagers surrounding the cat. The cat had been trapped by a mob in a sugarcane field.

A report was later filed by the Garhmukteshwar police under the Protection of Wildlife Act against unidentified persons. A police sub-inspector, with a wound on the neck, and a constable whose arm had almost been chewed off while trying to save the sub-inspector, were admitted to theMeerut Medical College Hospital.

The permission of the area chief wildlife warden is essential for killing a jungle cat, even if it is a known man-eater. This leopard, however, had no past record of violence against humans, said Ghaziabad divisional forest officer, Yashpal Malik, who was present at the spot.




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