A three-year-old child playing in the courtyard of her home was carried away by a leopard in broad daylight on Monday. The body of the girl was discovered in the bushes some distance away from her home. With rising incidents of human-leopard conflict in the area, the people have demanded that the leopard be declared a man-eater and that effective steps be taken to tackle the big cat menace.
At the Silaus village in Ghansali, three year old Rakhi, the daughter of Bishan Singh, was playing in her courtyard at around 2 pm. It is being reported that a leopard lying in ambush entered the courtyard. On seeing the big cat, Rakhi’s elder sister rushed into the house but the leopard caught hold of Rakhi before she could escape and dragged her into the bushes at some distance from the village. The grandfather of the victim was inside the home when the leopard took away the girl but he was not aware of his grand daughter being attacked. When Rakhi’s elder sister screamed for help, a large number of villagers gathered and began searching for the girl. After some effort, the partially eaten body of the girl was discovered in the bushes near the village.
Villagers pointed out that a leopard had attacked another girl in the village about 10 days ago. They are demanding that the big cat responsible be declared a man-eater. According to observers, factors like decrease in population of natural prey base in the jungles and human settlements expanding closer to forests are among the major reasons for the continuing human-leopard conflict in the State.