MANSEHRA: Residents of the Bararkot area, located on the boundary between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, staged a protest against the Wildlife Department after a schoolteacher was attacked and seriously injured by a leopard that reportedly strayed into the locality from nearby forests.
“This is the third incident in which a wildcat attacked and seriously injured a teacher on his way to school in the morning,” Yaqoob Mughal, a local, told the protesters on Saturday.
The protesters, who assembled in the Totnakah area where the incident had taken place, raised slogans against the wildlife department.
“We cannot even repulse attacks inflicted on us by beasts with fire as it is a crime under the Wildlife Act, endangering our lives,” Mughal said.
He said that a student and an elderly man were injured by wildcats earlier this year, and they took the issue up with the wildlife department, but to no avail.
“The government should take notice of the situation. Why hasn’t the wildlife department confined these lethal wildcats to forests away from populated areas, and why do they frequently come down and attack residents” he added.
Tauseef Ahmad, a teacher by profession, was on his way to school to join duty in the morning when a leopard jumped in front of him, seriously injured him, and managed to flee.
The injured man was rushed to a nearby health facility with multiple injuries on different parts of his body.
A wildlife department team led by Sub-Divisional Officer Mansehra Osama Khan, and including SDW Officer Balakot Malik Amir and Deputy Range Officer Shinkiari Mohammad Ashraf, launched a search and capture operation in Bararkot.
