A leopard killed an eight-year-old boy near his house in south Kheri forest division area and caused grave injuries to a 59-year woman in separate incidents, in the Mailani range of Dudhwa buffer zone, on Monday night.
Meanwhile in Majhgain range of Dudhwa buffer zone, the movement of a tigress with her three cubs across has kept local residents of half a dozen villages worried.
In the first incident, a leopard allegedly dragged and killed Amit Kumar, 8, from near his house at Bakhshpurwa village, under the Mahewaganj police limits, at around 8 pm on Monday night. The area falls under the Shardanagar range of the South Kheri forest division.
The child’s house is located in close proximity to sugarcane and banana fields, which provide a safe hideout for wild animals, a senior forest official said.
The leopard dragged the child into a nearby sugarcane field and mauled him to death. His mutilated and partially eaten body was later recovered hours after the attack.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) south Kheri Tapas Mihir, who along with his team rushed to the spot and inspected the scene, confirmed the death from a leopard attack following pugmarks detected from the spot.
{{/usCountry}}Divisional forest officer (DFO) south Kheri Tapas Mihir, who along with his team rushed to the spot and inspected the scene, confirmed the death from a leopard attack following pugmarks detected from the spot.
{{/usCountry}}Woman attacked inside house
In a second incident late on Monday night, a leopard entered a house in Narang Khaddi village under the Mailani range of the Dudhwa buffer zone and attacked Kaushalya, 59, while she was going to the toilet.
The woman sustained deep injuries to her lips and chin besides an injury to one leg, Mailani forest range officials said.
Kaushalya was rushed to the district hospital, where she is undergoing treatment and was reported to be out of danger, a forest official informed.
A monitoring operation has been launched to establish the animal’s location, a forest department official said.
Tigress and three cubs keep villages on edge
Meanwhile, fear has gripped the residents of Gunakhar Tanda, Kishan Tanda, Kolwa Farm and Dharmapur villages under the Majhgain range of the Dudhwa buffer zone following the movement of a tigress and her three cubs since September 25 in their area. The big cat is known to have killed domestic animals in the region.
From Tuesday, the department started combing operations with two trained Dudhwa elephants, Diana and Pakhri, to track the tigress and her cubs and to push them deep inside the protected forests.
Majhgain range officer Ankit Kumar Singh said, “No attacks on cattle or reports of movement have been received over the past two days and it is possible that the animals have returned to the forest.” He added that monitoring inside the forest would also be carried out on Wednesday.