Authorities criticised for lukewarm response; man-eater leopard still alive

Terror and fear prevails in places where six women were killed, reportedly, by leopards in different parts of district Abbottabad and also in part of district Mansehra. According to a World Wide Funds for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P)'s spokesman here on Friday, a boy, aged 8, was also reported to have been picked by leopard just four days ago.
The boy or his body couldn't be found so far. Meetings held with the affected families and local elite in Kala Pani (a village located at 12 km from Abbottabad on Abbottabad-Thandiani Road) and other such places revealed that people feel unsafe because of the presence of the man-eaters in their area. They do not agree to the claims of the wildlife department that they killed the leopard that killed several people. Even under the current tense situation, some people don't really want the department killing the innocent leopards. A local remarked that they have killed a leopard that we know for years. "The actual man-eaters have come from outside, we need to get rid of them" he demanded aggressively.
Irrespective of the individual responses, the long-term survival of leopards seems at risk in the affected zone of the Gallies and Thandiani. This was not only because of certain realities, related to the incidence of killing people by leopards, but also because of the delayed response by government agencies to sufferings of the people. The people also criticised the level of compensation offered to them. "We protected leopards to respect the law, but when we suffered because of it, we were being offered a meagre sum of Rs 50,000 only whereas Rs 200,000 were given to people who died recently in the railway accident," complained a villager.
WWF-P would like to see the people loving their heritage, and see our species surviving in viable numbers. "We, however, strongly believe that this could be a possibility only if the people's right to survive is also respected. How could WWF-P help was yet to be determined through more observations, assessments, meetings and dialogues with major stakeholders. We expect to reach certain viable options and solutions in due course of time but meanwhile, if there were new developments, these would be shared with all the supporters of WWF-P," the spokesman added.