Man-eating leopard blamed for 15 deaths

A leopard suspected of killing and eating 15 people in Nepal may have killed others across the border in India, a police official says.

The remains of the most recent victim, a 4-year-old boy, was found Saturday in a forest just over half a mile from his home, CNN reported. Police say the leopard probably seized the boy and dragged him away to eat.

Kamal Prasad Kharel, chief of police in the Baitadi district, said searchers had been combing the area, looking for the missing child. All that was found was the head.

Two-thirds of the victims have been young children, Kharel said, and the others older children and one 29-year-old woman. Most were killed while looking for animal fodder in the forest. 

At least 15 deaths in the district have been blamed on the animal in the past 15 months.

Baitadi, almost 400 miles west of Kathmandu, is a remote area that borders the Indian state of Uttarkhand. Kharel said similar deaths have been reported in Uttarkhand.

Maheshwor Dhakal, an ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, said carnivores that kill humans do get a taste for that particular prey.

"Since human blood has more salt than animal blood, once wild animals get the taste of salty blood they do not like other animals like deer," Dhakal said.

A reward of about $300 has been offered for the death or capture of the leopard. (UPI)

<한글 기사>

식인표범 출몰, 사망자 최소 15명

네팔의 숲에서 식인표범이 출현해 최소 15명이 사망했다고 경찰이 밝혔다.

최근 발생한 사건의 피해자는 4세 소년으로 지난 토요일 (현지시각) 집 앞의 숲에서 표범의 공격을 받았으며, 지역 경찰청장 카멜 프레세드 하렐은 수색대가 사라진 아동의 행방을 찾아 헤맨 끝에 신체의 부분만을 찾을 수 있었다고 밝혔다.

이 식인표범은 주로 어린 아이를 표적으로 삼아 피해자의 3분의 2가량이 아동인 것으로 알려졌다.

경찰은 지난 15개월간 적어도 15명이 해당지역에서 식인표범에게 희생된 것으로 보인다고 말했다.

“사람의 피가 다른 동물의 피보다 염도가 높아, 한 번 사람의 짠 피를 맛 본 야생동물은 사슴과 같은 다른 동물을 먹고 싶지 않아한다”고 국립공원과 야생보존과의 생태학자 매헤쉐어 하칼이 말했다.