When the maharaja permitted a British engineer to shoot leopard near Chamundi Hills in Mysuru

The British engineer not only shot the leopard, that was troubling the local population, but also took its skin as a trophy back home after taxidermy.

The conflict between humans and leopards appears to have existed even during the days of the erstwhile maharajas of Mysuru.

A British engineer, who was involved in the installation of a power plant for lighting the Mysuru palace when it was being built, had been permitted by the then maharaja of Mysore to shoot one of the leopards that was roaming near the foot of Chamundi Hills.

A letter issued by the Assistant Private Secretary to the maharaja of Mysore on June 27, 1908, had permitted the British engineer, Fredrick William Willis, to shoot ‘one of the panthers’ that had been sighted near the foot of Chamundi Hills, according to a copy of the letter shared by his grandson Fred Willis, who is presently touring Mysuru with his wife Gill Willis.

In 1908, Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar was the maharaja of Mysore.

The British engineer not only shot the leopard, that was troubling the local population, but also took its skin as a trophy back home after taxidermy. “It is still part of the family heirloom,” said Mr Willis, who now stays in New Zealand with his family.

According to Mr Willis, his grandfather arrived in India in 1903 from England first as a Station Operator before involving himself in the installation of a power plant for lighting the Mysuru palace in 1907.

The construction of Mysuru palace, designed by English architect Henry Irwin in the Indo-Sarcenic style of architecture, began in 1897 after the old wooden palace was burnt in a fire a year earlier. The construction is reported to have been completed in 1912.