Murree and the Galiyat areas lie at the foot of the Himalayas in Pakistan on an alpine hill tract. They comprise a number of settlements that were established by the British as summer hill-stations for their families to escape the heat of the Indian plains. The region’s forests abound in all kinds of fauna and flora. Recently, the news of a leopard turned “man-eater” in the Galiyat region drew extensive publicity.
According to reports, a leopard attacked and killed six women in Bakot village located few kilometres from Abbotabad in just one week. Afterwards, the wildlife agencies liaising with a commando police force somehow managed to trap it. However, the endangered animal’s rise to fame as “Pakistan’s first man-eater leopard” ended abruptly when it was slain by a police constable who riddled its body with 15 bullets whilst it was still in a cage.
Air Marshal (retd) Ayaz Ahmed Khan, a resident of Nathiagali, in a newspaper article once wrote: “There has never been a report during the last 50 years of a leopard attacking a human being. The leopard in its distinct black and white spotted skin is on the run from its most dangerous predator — the man.”
Indeed, deforestation and encroaching urbanization of the forests — the native habitat of the leopards — and scarcity of its natural prey are mainly to blame for a situation when an animal might turn man-eater. Otherwise, according to experts, it is a very rare occurrence. Unlike other related big cats, leopards are naturally shy animals. Being nocturnal in their habits, they hunt smaller animals such as jackals, dogs, monkeys and occasionally cattle in the wilds of the Galiyat.
In India and Bangladesh, ghastly tales of man-eating tigers are not uncommon. Leopards seldom feature in such stories. However, the gripping novel The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag by legendary Irish hunter Jim Corbett is a hair-raising account of the pursuit of one such elusive animal that had claimed more than 125 lives in the Upper Provinces of India in early ’20s.
When I inquired about the species of leopard found in this region, Nausherwan Ahmed, a nature enthusiast who runs the largest country specific website on wildlife (www.wildlifeofpakistan.com) explained: “According to the new classification there are mainly two types of leopard species found in southern parts of Pakistan. The leopard found on the west of the Indus is known as the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolour) and on the west of it is called the ‘Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) which is the species commonly found in Murree and the Galiyat region. Older terms for the subspecies ‘Kashmir leopard’ ( P.p.millardi) and ‘Sindh leopard’ (P.p.sindica) are no longer taken into account.”
Many people erroneously refer to leopards as sher (lion, in local dialect). Whereas, others often inaccurately confuse them with snow leopards or cheetahs. The snow leopards are also a threatened species surviving on the snow-peaked mountains of the Northern areas of Pakistan, often living at altitudes of 10,000 feet and above. On the other hand, the Indian cheetah that was commonly reared by the Mughals and Nawabs in old times to accompany their royal hunts has now become extinct in the subcontinent.
There have been many instances of leopard sightings in Murree. Last year, I personally witnessed a leopard on the Jheekagali-Kuldana- Kashmir Point hiking track in Murree hills. Signboards were later placed on nearby trees to warn hikers. On a recent visit to the same spot, the leopard roar was heard again and fresh paw prints in the mud were observed as well. Although there have been no reported leopard attacks on humans in Murree hills yet, but as prudent practice the hikers in the forests should walk in groups as opposed to being alone. One should be specially careful when there are women and children around because the behaviour of the leopard that attacked six women at Bakot, showed a tendency towards attacking lone females only — which, in a lighter vein as an uncle of mine puts it — makes it more of a “woman-eater” and not a true man-eater.
Last winter I learned about a leopard cub that had strayed into a villager’s house in Murree and died afterwards. The following version was narrated to me by the locals: “In Jan 2005, Bakhtawar of Kuldana Murree, heard some noise in the night coming from the animal shelter. It was in the shed which is the size of a small room where they tie up their cattle at night. (One or two cows and few goats). The next morning the children who opened the door discovered an animal lying in a corner. Taking it to be a dead domestic cat they called the adults. The parents discovered that it was a leopard’s cub. Their neighbours gathered and also some army men who were engaged in removing snow from nearby houses arrived on the scene to examine the animal. Unable to report the incident to the authorities due to excess snow blockades Bakhtawar at first decided to bury the animal but a neighbour requested him to give it to him instead. The same neighbour took pictures of the dead leopard cub and then later on decided to preserve its hide before it got decomposed.”
Intriguingly, the neighbour who skinned the animal told me that the animal’s ribs appeared to have been broken. He could not explain why. Moreover, many neighbours reported hearing a leopard roaring close to their homes in the following days. They suspected it was the mother who was looking for her cub. The news about the death of any endangered animal whether natural or caused by man is always disturbing. In the interest of all, these animals should be driven back into their own special reserves so there is minimal contact with humans and unfortunate events like the tragic death of six women at Bakot and needless killing of leopards due to game-hunting and poaching can be avoided in the future. It is important to realize that the most important tool to conserve valuable ecosystems and biodiversity of the considered region is transfer to sustainable development.
Enjoining upon us to preserve these beautiful leopards Air Marshal (retd) Ayaz Ahmed Khan quite rightly suggests: “Leopard spotting, viewing by binoculars photographing and feeding would be interesting and a good sport. Killing and gunning down this beautiful animal is criminal. The few leopards in Pakistan deserve attention, because their survival is threatened.”
Murree and the Galiyat areas lie at the foot of the Himalayas in Pakistan on an alpine hill tract. They comprise a number of settlements that were established by the British as summer hill-stations for their families to escape the heat of the Indian plains. The region’s forests abound in all kinds of fauna and flora. Recently, the news of a leopard turned “man-eater” in the Galiyat region drew extensive publicity.
There have been many instances of leopard sightings in Murree. Last year, I personally witnessed a leopard on the Jheekagali-Kuldana- Kashmir Point hiking track in Murree hills. Signboards were later placed on nearby trees to warn hikers. On a recent visit to the same spot, the leopard roar was heard again and fresh paw prints in the mud were observed as well. Although there have been no reported leopard attacks on humans in Murree hills yet, but as prudent practice the hikers in the forests should walk in groups as opposed to being alone. One should be specially careful when there are women and children around because the behaviour of the leopard that attacked six women at Bakot, showed a tendency towards attacking lone females only — which, in a lighter vein as an uncle of mine puts it — makes it more of a “woman-eater” and not a true man-eater.
