SNOW LEOPARD KILLED

Killer leopard shot in Pakistan.

Snow leopards are protected.

Police in north Pakistan have shot dead a rare snow leopard, blamed for killing six women in the past two weeks. The ageing animal was caught in a trap, with a goat as bait, but was shot when it tried to escape, police in the town of Abbotabad told the BBC.
Fear had spread through the area after the attacks. The last was on Friday. Abbotabad police chief Feroz Shah said he was sure it was the leopard that had killed the women, all of whom had been gathering firewood in forests.

"It's a huge animal and it came back to the same spot where it killed the last woman," Mr Shah told Reuters. Snow leopards are protected in Pakistan, but police had been given permission to catch or kill the animal. As well as traps, large numbers of policemen armed with tranquilisers had been deployed.