Ganderbal: The hunt to catch or kill the man-eater leopard in Zazuna and its adjoining villages in Ganderbal by the Wildlife authorities continued for the second day Tuesday.
The leopard had mauled to death a three-year old girl Mahiya Shabir, daughter of Shabir Ahmad Bhat near Zazuna fruit mandi here Sunday evening and taken her away.
Her mutilated body has been later recovered from a nearby field.
Locals said that the minor girl was in the car when the leopard pounced on her and took her away.
Following the fatal attack, the authorities declared the leopard man-eater and deputed teams to catch or kill it, an official said.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Wildlife department, Ganderbal, Altaf Ahmad told Greater Kashmir that the hunt for the man-eater leopard continued on Tuesday, however, there had been no traces so far.
He said that the Wildlife authorities had placed traps around Zazuna and placed sharp shooters at vulnerable spots to kill the leopard.
“We have established a permanent camp inside the Panchayat at Zazuna area where the incident too place,” Ahmad said. “More than 30 employees of the Wildlife department are deputed in the area and the spot of incident. We will first try to capture the leopard and if all other means including tranquilisation fail, the wild animal will be killed as a last resort.”
He said that they are looking for the potential spots where the occurrence of the leopard was frequent.
“We have evaluated the positions by surveying the area to set up trap cages and that process has been completed,” Ahmad said.