Kathmandu at Night

I can honestly say that my average bedtime has been about 9:30 p.m. Antara goes to bed about 8 p.m., I do some work and then quickly find myself falling asleep at the computer. This past week I am pushing myself to stay up later as I am starting to do some work from here. The later I stay up the more unusual sounds I hear from the dark streets of Kathmandu.

The other night I heard what I thought were wild dogs fighting. Stray dogs are everywhere. Dr. Ravis told us that Rabis is a major problem in Nepal. It was scary and sounded like two gangs of dogs fighting just outside of our building.

The next morning we mentioned it to our driver, Manoje. He is now more of a friend/helper. He takes us where we need to go and helps with groceries, etc...

Manoje told us that they have found Leopards in the Kathmandu valley! I asked him if he was joking and he said no.

I guess we could compare it to the coyote problem that is haunting the suburbs of many US cities, right?

I found this article online.

We don't stay out that late.



Three leopards ‘removed’ from Kathmandu in the last month
08/04/2009 10:42:25
Leopards moving into urban areas where food is plentiful

April 2009. A leopard, which had been terrorizing residents of the city for several days, was captured by wildlife experts and police before being taken to the city zoo. The leopard was caught in Dhapakhel in the outskirts of Kathmandu in a tree.

This follows two other recent leopard incidents in Kathmandu. A female leopard had to be killed in Maharajgunj after efforts to catch it alive failed, and it had already injured two people. And a juvenile leopard was tranquilised at Bishalnagar. It is thought that these leopards had moved into the city from the nearby forests.




Maneating leopard shot dead in Kavre MANOJ BASNET

KAVRE, JUN 12 -
Police gunned down a leopard at Nasikasthan Village Development Committee Ward No. 7 in Kavre district on Friday night. Aided by the locals, a police team shot the maneater dead in Khalchok forest.

The team, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Krishna Bahadur Karki of the Sanga Police Post, was dispatched to the village as the leopard had attacked and injured Siddhi Bahadur Tamang there.

Seven children have been killed and many others injured in numerous leopard attacks in the village in the past two years. Locals believe that there are two to three leopards in the area, including the one killed.

“The villagers had lodged a complaint at the police post requesting to take the maneaters under control. The team that reached the village following Friday’s attack killed the beast on the border of Khalchok and Ashapuri forests,” said Karki. The leopards have been terrorising villagers in Nasikasthan, Mahendrajyoti and Ryale VDCs.

“The villagers don’t leave their homes after sunset fearing an attack by the beasts. We are living a life of terror here,” said Sainla Tamang. The villagers now heave a sigh of relief that at least one leopard has been killed.

Following repeated incidents of human casualty due to the leopard attack, the chief district officer recently permitted the police to even kill the beasts if they cannot be captured.