Villagers in India kill leopard after park staff fail to catch it, says forest official

By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LUCKNOW, India - A forest official says irate villagers in north India chased, shot and burned a four-year-old leopard after it strayed into their area from a nearby tiger reserve.

They complained the leopard had killed five people in the past four months, as well as dogs and goats kept by the villagers.

Wildlife reserve staff who had been on the animal's trail for the past three months spotted it early this week but were unsuccessful in trying to tranquilize it.

Forest official Kartik Kumar Singh says nearly 3,000 villagers on Thursday thwarted their efforts by pelting stones at the animal each time it was trapped in the bushes.

He says the villagers fired shots at the leopard and when the animal entered a hut they set it on fire near Dudhwa National Park, 250 kilometres southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

Leopards are considered an endangered animal in India. The Wildlife Protection Society of India estimated that 150 leopards were killed across the country in 2007.