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Heavy Snow fall, Snow-leopard rushed in town for foods

By Zahiruddin

CHITRAL: The continuing harsh weather heavy snowfall has forced the snow leopard to descend to the outskirts of villages near Chitral town lying the lower altitudes filling the villagers with fear and terror. The villagers of Shali, Seen Lusht, Dolomutz and Balach Bala are said to be confined to their homes after sun-set fearing the onslaught of the wild cat. Muhammad Alim, a worker of village conservation committee told chitraltimes.com that the wild cat rushes to the lower areas in search of food chasing his preys. He said that the leopard has been intimidating the local population in the recent past and has preyed pet animals in the night time. He said that due to its scarce population, the villagers do not shoot it on sight but try to save themselves from its wrath. He said that the leopard carries onslaught in the human settlement only when it fails to hunt markhor or other petty wild animal and suffers hunger for many days. Mr. Alim said that the Chitral Gol National Park is the abode of the wild cat which was once threatened by extinction. He said that the wild conservation committees on village level take steps for the preservation of snow leopard due to its importance in the promotion of eco-tourism. A foreign funded Snow Leopard Project had also been launched to save the wild animal from extinction and now the density of its population is said to be under control, he added.