By IANS,
Chandigarh : Haryana’s Forest Minister Ajay Singh Yadav Tuesday ordered a probe into the killing of two leopards – one each in Karnal and Jind districts – in recent days.
The probe will be conducted by forest department officials, the minister said.
Yadav directed Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (forest) Keshni Anand Arora that the detailed inquiry report be submitted to him immediately.
A wild leopard, which strayed into a residential area in Karnal and attacked at least eight people, was shot dead by police Monday.
The killing of the three-year-old leopard in police firing attracted sharp reaction from animal rights activists.
Some of them have demanded explanation from the state government and also sought information, through Right to Information (RTI) applications, about the reasons behind the killing.
“A leopard is a protected animal and it is the duty of state government to ensure its safety but they are killing it. In this case, the leopard had only come to drink water and police fired at it,” Naresh Kadyan, representative of NGO International organisation for Animals Protection, told IANS.
“We have already sent a notice to the state government seeking information about the provocation behind this killing. It is a barbaric act and totally intolerable,” he said.
Last week, another leopard was shot dead by police near Mandokhera town close to Jind city.
Yadav said that he has sought a report from the forest department as to why sufficient tranquilizer guns have not been procured so that wild animals, who stray into human habitation, could be tranquilized instead of being killed.
He revealed that only five tranquilizer guns were available with the forest department.
The minister said that the leopard population in the state could be between 25-30.