The making of a "maneater". The Pithoragarh maneater

[Pran]

Here's a newspaper article on the same maneater-

http://usmalayalienglish.com/?p=1997

..and a more recent one-

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-new ... 67620.aspx

Regards
Pran

[prashantsingh]

We even spotted the animal but failed to shoot it. Says lakhpat rawat.
The first article says.
. so it was lakhpat on our kill.

[zaheer.bakshi]

[prashantsingh]

The Pithoragarh maneater was shot dead by Lakhpat Singh Rawat and Joy yesterday night at 8 45 p.m. Turned out to be a seven and a half foot female.
Saw the snap in the local news paper . I have no doubts this is the killer.
Zaheer. May I request you to kindly post the snap.

[marksman]

Kudos to Rawat Sahib for the good deed and record setting as well.. How ever one should keep in mind that in the times of Carpet Sahib that there were no roads, inroads, vehicles to negociate rough roads or lack it, powerful artificial lights instant communication and many amenities existing that are expectedly common today.
Rawat sahib has rightly accepted all the compliments with humility.

Marksman

[zaheer.bakshi]

[estousandy]

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/man- ... 94310.html

The Didihat man-eater is history but such is the fear of the animal in Uttarakhand's remote Pithoragarh district that the spectre of death is yet to leave the minds of residents.

It was late on Saturday that the two-year hunt of the infamous feline which had terrorised the entire district and developed the bizarre habit of feasting on passed-out drunks ended.

Top shikaris Lakhpat Singh Rawat and Joy Hukil fired the killing shots after sitting up over a goat tied as bait near Digoti village. At their feet lay a seven-year-old leopardess with worn out canines and 14 human kills to her name, besides a host of cattle and other livestock.

But it isn't really over. The forest department fears that the Pithoragarh's brush with terror has not ended, for another leopard was spotted with the slain cat. The other leopard, which Rawat says is likely to be a younger male, got away in the dark when its female partner was shot down.

The man-eater of Didihat began its killing spree on January 23, 2012. The animal's reign of terror had provoked such fear across the district that residents of more than 40 villages feared to venture out after sundown. That the leopard would stalk inebriated men and tear them to pieces if they passed out only added to its bloody legend. Leopards are messy eaters; but this animal's inclination to eat even the intestines of its victims had come as a surprise to those on its trail.

The Uttarakhand forest department declared the leopardess a man-eater in August this year and issued a warrant to kill it. The hunt gathered pace but it took the expert team of Rawat and Hukil all of two months to get a shot at the man-eater. Rawat, worshipped as an angel of mercy across Uttarakhand for his skills and dedication in hunting down man-eating leopards, was circumspect.

"Any leopard could attack a passedout drunk. It could also be that the leopardess and her mate were a team, or that there are other leopards operating in a similar manner in the area," Rawat told Mail Today. Pithoragarh's district forest officer Y.K. Singh said, "We are tracking the other leopard and after making an observation, we will take the next step."

Suspicions about presence of more man-eaters were underlined as a leopard took a young calf in the same area on Sunday. The Didihat man-eater killed six persons in 2012, five in 2013 and three this year. The last human kill was in September.

[prashantsingh]

The best course of action would be to wait and watch. Another human kill would mean that the maneater is still around. There is hardly any prey base in the area so the animal which struck on sunday night .....A day after the leopardess was killed could very well be a cattle lifter.
On my first trip. Our team trekked to the spot where the last victim was killed. The man was dead drunk and was sleeping on the pavement. The maneater killed him. Dragged him for more than two hundred yards into thick undergrowth and after feasting on him hid the carcass in a crevice between two rocks. It took a lot of effort from the villagers to retrieve the body.
There is no doubt this was a big animal and for that reason we used a buffalo calf instead of a goat as bait.

[prashantsingh]

The locals should be advised to stay indoors after dusk for a few more months. If they have to venture out after dark , they should do so in groups. A hungry leopard will take whatever comes in his path. An easy meal like a drunk man on a jungle track could, sooner or later , very well make a normal leopard a man killer .
As winter sets in the nights are going to get longer. Giving more hunting opportunities to the predators in the area.

[kanwar76]

So doc this one was being killed while we were talking?

-Inder

[skeetshot]

Like many of us, I followed the trials of this hunt with great interest and anticipation.

Prashant's succulent writings made me feel I was there.

I was always hoping that Prashant would get this killer

Unfortunately it was not to be.

The selective hunting of a man eating cat, as opposed to killing any cat which one comes across, is a game of skill, patience and most of all, LUCK

One needs unlimited time, and in todays day and age, that is a luxury the majority of us do not have.

It boiled down to not who was the better tactician or marksman, it boiled down to who had the time to try, and try again and again.

Whatever it may be, I believe that we at IFG are fortunate and grateful to Dr Prashant Singh for his endeavour and for his writings in sharing his experience with us, and so objectively reporting the demise of the Maneater of Pithoragarh

Thank You Prashant.

[Vikram]

Like many of us, I followed the trials of this hunt with great interest and anticipation.

Prashant's succulent writings made me feel I was there.

I was always hoping that Prashant would get this killer

Unfortunately it was not to be.

The selective hunting of a man eating cat, as opposed to killing any cat which one comes across, is a game of skill, patience and most of all, LUCK

One needs unlimited time, and in todays day and age, that is a luxury the majority of us do not have.

It boiled down to not who was the better tactician or marksman, it boiled down to who had the time to try, and try again and again.

Whatever it may be, I believe that we at IFG are fortunate and grateful to Dr Prashant Singh for his endeavour and for his writings in sharing his experience with us, and so objectively reporting the demise of the Maneater of Pithoragarh

Thank You Prashant.

I could not have put it better. Perfectly echoes my sentiments. Thank you very much, Prashant, for keeping us informed and educated and for having tried your best to help the people of those villages.

Best-
Vikram

[mundaire]

Prashant,

Thank you and your friends for your efforts and for the inimitable style of narrative that kept all of us waiting for the next installment with bated breath.

Congratulations to the successful shikaris who got rid of this menace.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[xl_target]

It is always a pleasure to read about your hunts, Prashant.
Thanks to your writing style, I often feel I am there with you.
It is just too bad that you weren't able to bag this man-eater but this is india and there will always be other ones.

[huntergill]

Well, they have killed another big old tom in the area and now claiming it to be a man eater.This trend of keep killing any leopard showing up on bait irrespective of sex, size until man eating stops is kind of disturbing.Forest department and hunters need to do a better job on positive identification of the rogue animal rather than killing any leopard having the misfortune of showing up in the spot light.It is hard to perform under the tremendous pressure from the public and the babudom but we do not have many leopards left in the wild.