Lucknow: An 11-year-old girl, Anshika Talukdar, was killed by a big cat around 7.30 pm on Thursday in Selha village under Madhotanda police station. According to the divisional forest officer (DFO) of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), Naveen Khandelwal, the forest teams are yet to identify whether it was a tiger or a leopard.
Angry villagers protested soon after the incident. The village is located on the periphery of Mahof forest range of PTR. Some villagers claimed that the girl was dragged by the animal from near her house.
Pug marks of the big cat could not be traced to determine whether it was a tiger or leopard as it was dark, the DFO said. The postmortem of the body would be conducted on Friday, he added.
As the attack took place outside the core forest area, the report of the incident, along with the autopsy report, would be sent to the state forest administration for compensation to the deceased’s family.
“Field officials have been directed to guard the village at night and monitor the movement of the big cat if possible. We will also install camera traps in the village,” the DFO added.
