Haldwani, March 10 -- At least 11 big cats, including three tigers and eight leopards, have been captured in Uttarakhand's Kumaon division in the first 67 days of 2026, with the highest number of such incidents reported from Nainital district, forest officials said. According to the forest department, the first capture of the year took place on January 4 when an adult tiger was tranquilised and captured from Bhalon village in the Ramnagar area near Corbett National Park. Since then, forest teams have conducted several rescue operations across districts in the Kumaon region amid increasing incidents of human-wildlife conflict. The most recent capture took place on March 8 when an adult female leopard was trapped in a cage installed in the Bijorijhal area of Bageshwar district.Villagers had been demanding action since February 22 after the animal allegedly created panic by attacking domestic animals and attempting to target residents. Kewalanand Pandey, ranger of Bageshwar forest range, said cages were installed after obtaining permission from senior forest officials. "Cages were installed after getting permission from higher authorities and the leopard was finally trapped on Sunday evening," Pandey said. Earlier, on January 8, a leopard was captured from the SIDCUL industrial area in Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district. Another adult tiger was tranquilised in Sawalde village in the Corbett landscape on January 9, officials said. On January 14, two adult leopards were trapped in cages in the Dhar and Ramgarh areas of Nainital district. This was followed by the capture of leopards from Chamoli village in Okhalkanda block on January 16 and January 26, and another from Pithoragarh on January 19. Forest officials said a leopard was also captured from Govindshan Tila in Kashipur on February 3. More recently, a leopard was trapped near the police line in Almora district on March 3. On the same night, an adult tiger was tranquilised and captured from Fatehpur in the Haldwani area. Dr Tejaswini Patil, chief conservator of forests (CCF) Kumaon, said the forest department is working to balance wildlife conservation with the safety of people living in forest fringe areas....