Leopard kills 3 children in 3 days in MP

BHOPAL: A 12-year-old boy became the third victim of a leopard in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district in the last three days, prompting the forest department to launch a massive hunt to trap the ‘man-eater’.

The half-eaten body of the boy was found in the forests of east Chhindwara on Wednesday morning, nearly 274km southeast of Bhopal.

About 200 officials of the forest department and 300-400 villagers are searching for the leopard that has unleashed terror in east Chhindwara. SS Uddey, district forest officer (DFO), Chhindwara (east), said the leopard attacked the boy from Jhirpani village when he had gone with his mother to their farm on Tuesday.

“The leopard pounced on the boy and dragged him into the forest. We kept searching for the boy the whole night in the forest. Finally, we spotted his half-eaten body on Wednesday,” he said.

Uddey said the leopard killed two children on Sunday, a 10-year-old boy from Bijo Pathar area and a five-year-old girl from Mohli village. While the boy’s partially eaten body was later found, the animal left the girl’s body after killing her.

Chhindwara’s superintendent of police Gaurav Tiwari quoted the mother of the girl as saying that the leopard attacked her daughter while they had gone into the forest area to collect firewood. The animal caught the girl by her neck puncturing it, which led to her death, he said.

“Villagers who have seen the leopard say it is very agile and fast. It is apparently a young leopard who has started attacking humans. We don’t know why. It has never happened in this area earlier. As all the three villages where attacks have taken place are located within a range of 15 to 20kms, it is mostly likely one leopard that is targeting children,” Uddey said.

The district forest officer said over 200 forest employees have been deployed to track and catch the big cat. Wildlife experts from Kanha, Pench and Satpura tiger reserves have also been drafted in. “It is difficult to catch a leopard with a tranquilizer gun as it is very agile. So, we are planning to put cages with goats or dogs as baits at half-a-dozen places in the forests,” he said.