A ‘man-eater’ leopard was killed in village Nichama of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district this evening, local sources said.

They said that a leopard, believed to have killed a three-year-old boy last Monday, was killed by the Wildlife Department shooters.

“The leopard had been on prowl and posed an imminent threat to locals and their livestock”, they said adding as soon as the beast emerged, the watchful locals gathered around to chase it away and in the meantime a team of Wildlife Department laced with required weapons shot at the beast, resulting in its instant death.

When contacted, a Wildlife Department official confirmed to GNS about the killing of the leopard. “We were on watch to track its movements ever after the death of the minor boy took place yesterday”, the official said.

Meanwhile the local populace has extended gratitude towards the District Administration and Wildlife Department for killing the beast.