On Monday northern India’s Uttarakhand High Court enacted a prohibition against killing wild animals including leopards, panthers, and tigers, which are deemed “maneaters,” after a spate of recent attacks that coincides with human encroachment on forest lands.

The ban prohibits the "killing of all wild animals by declaring them man-eaters" and also forbids the "display of dead bodies of animals in print and electronic media."

Senior justices Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh ruled that an animal "who poses [a] threat to human life should be captured alive by using [a] tranquilizer gun in the presence of Veterinary Doctors," and then be "released in nearby forest/jungle or alternatively, can be kept in [a] zoo temporarily and thereafter, be released in their own habitat," according to the Times of India.

The ruling also suggests that a committee must decide whether a particular animal poses a threat to human life. The committee would include the principal chief conservator of the forest and the principal secretary of the forest.

An animal is usually designated a man-eater if it attacks a human or enters into areas populated by humans. The court ruled that private hunters cannot be hired to put down man-eaters, an effort that usually requires a lot of manpower and hundred of thousands of rupees in expenses. Poachers could face life imprisonment if caught slaughtering animals outside of regulations.

A 10-km protective zone was also ordered around the Corbett Tiger Reserve and other designated areas in Uttarakhand. Railroad companies were instructed to insulate electric poles and dig ditches to prevent animals from being electrocuted.

State officials say that in the last 15 years over 140 big cats, chiefly leopards, have been designated as man-eaters in Uttarakhand.

A resident of Pauri told Tehelka in 2015 that, "The fear of leopards has replaced the fear of ghosts these days. Earlier, when someone would venture out in the night, people would narrate legends of ghosts, an ever-popular theme in the hills. Now it is the nocturnal hunter; the leopard, that we are scared of."