Shimla, Mar 21 (IANS): Twenty-two people were killed by wild animals in Himachal Pradesh in the past three years, a minister said Wednesday.
The deaths took place from Jan 1, 2009 to Jan 31 this year. In most cases, the killer was a leopard, Forest Minister Khimi Ram said in the assembly.
There were also 1,247 attacks on humans in this period, he said. Of this, 110 suffered serious injuries.
"In most attacks, both on humans and livestock, bears, leopards and monkeys are involved," he said.
Ram said to protect crops from wild animals, the state has declared nine animals - the wild boar, porcupine, sambar, cheetal, hare, jackal, monkey, parrot and the blue bull - as "vermin."
The government in 1998 authorised the chief wildlife warden to allow selective hunting of these animals.
Till March 12 this year, 50,310 monkeys have been sterilized.