In yet another wild cat attack on humans in the metropolis, a four-year-old tribal girl was mauled to death by a full-grown leopard that had strayed out of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and prowled into Aarey Milk colony at Goregaon in North Mumbai on Tuesday morning.
Identifying the killed girl as one Hiya Peter Massi, the Aarey police said that the leopard pounced onto the girl when she answering her nature’s call in near her house at Khadakpada, a tribal settlement, in Aarey Milk Colony, at 6.30 am. Though her grandmother had accompanied Hiya when she stepped out for morning ablutions, she could not do much as the wild cat attacked her granddaughter. She shrieked for help.
The leopard mauled and dragged Hiya up to some distance of over 10 meters. Alerted by Hiya’s grandmother, the fellow adivasis rushed to the scene and chased the leopard that escaped, leaving Hiya in an injured state. The baldy injured Hiya was later rushed to the nearby Siddarth Hospital at Goregaon, where she succumbed to injuries later in the day.
Tuesday’s attack was the third leopard attack on humans during this year in the areas surrounding SNGP.
On September 3, Mahesh Gadhye survived an attack with minor injured, when a female leopard pounced on him when he was on a morning walk at Adarsh Nagar at Aarey Milk Colony. Earlier on January 26 this year, an eleven-year-old boy Saurabh Yadav was dragged away by a leopard when he stepped out of his home at Adarsh Nagar to relieve himself.
From the SNGP, leopards often stray into the nearby housing complexes, the Film City, the Aarey Milk Colony, Dahisar, Borivli, Kandivli, Malad, Goregaon in the western suburbs, Mulund, Bhandup and Thane on the north-eastern side, and also onto the campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Powai.
In April 2012, a full-grown leopard was finally trapped by the forest officials 20 hours after the wild cat sneaked into the NES international school, located adjacent to the boundary of the SGNP. After moving around the school premises for a while, the wild cat was hiding in the basement of the school, before it came to be captured by the forest authorities.
On May 27,2011, the suburban Dindoshi bungalow of Hema Malini had come under spotlight after as a leopard stayed into the place, creating panic among the residents in the area situated the vicinity of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SNGP). The wild cat, spotted by a domestic help at around 6 am inside the bungalow of the Bollywood actress-turned-politician located at Yashodhara Hilltop Society, left as quietly as it had sneaked into her residence, within minutes of making its presence felt.
Sighting of leopards in the areas of Thane like Yeeor and Dhokali, Kolshet, adjoining the SGNP has become a common feature in recent months. A full-grown leopard has been menacingly roaming at will in Hiranandani Estate, Dhokali, Kolshet, for the past few months. So much so that two leopards were captured on close circuit security cameras of housing complexes built on the eastern fringes of the national park in localities like Hiranandani Estate, Manorama Nagar, Hiranandani Estate and the Indian Air Force station at Kolshet recently.
In the past, there have been many instances of leopards getting killed while on prowl looking for prey, by speeding vehicles on the Western Express and Eastern Express highways.
In 2003-04, when there was an increase in such straying incidents, there were several attacks by the straying leopards on the human beings. So much so that at least half a dozen persons were killed in these incidents.
According to a study, there were as many as 24 leopard attacks on human beings in 1997-1998, and 84 attacks between 2002 and 2004. However, the average of attacks reduced over the years. The study report, prepared by Researcher Vidya Athreya of Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), Bangalore, has revealed that the high density of dog population (57 dogs per sq km) had contributed in a big way to the leopard attacks in the area.