The leopard’s last victim was a man enjoying a late night smoke by a road that runs through Uttarakhand’s Rajaji national park. The cat pounced on him from behind, dragging the body a few hundred feet before clawing him apart. The mangled remains, discovered when dawn broke on May 3, were never identified. That same night, forest personnel spotted a feline figure stealing a drink from the pond behind the forest department guesthouse in a patch of forest that clutches the Ganga’s western bank. The fear of humans had faded from the leopard’s old heart. Soon, it was surrounded, tranquilised, and later transported to an animal protection centre in nearby Chidiyapur. An...
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