Teenage girl attacked by leopard in Shirur, dies on spot

The forest department has increased foot patrolling and are constantly creating awareness among the villagers to return to their homes by 6 pm, not step out in the dark, light-up the areas around their homes etc

Pooja Narode, 19, died almost as soon as a leopard attacked her and dragged her by the neck into a sugarcane field nearby on October 13 this year. Narode, a resident of Jambhut village, Shirur taluka, which is about 75 km from Pune, was washing utensils outside her home at around 6.30 pm when the leopard pounced on her.

This leopard is a full-grown male, which we now know due to its large pugmark, said an official (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Amit Bhise, range forest officer, Otur, confirmed the incident and said, “Maybe the leopard was hiding in the tall grass near the house; it was around 6.30 pm and it was drizzling. The post-mortem findings reveal that the leopard caught Narode by the neck and dragged her 30 metre into the sugarcane field nearby and was seen by a passer-by who raised an alarm. Several villagers ran behind the leopard in a bid to save Narode but the leopard, seeing the crowd, dropped the girl and ran away. The girl died on the spot due to a ruptured throat.”

“We have laid a trap and installed cameras up to 10 km as leopards are territorial. This leopard is a full-grown male, which we now know due to its large pugmark. There is a possibility that the leopard thought that the girl was a small animal as she was crouching over the utensils. In Shirur taluka, leopard sightings have been reported in Pimpalkhed, Fakate, Jambhut and Takali haji,” Bhise said.

In the wake of Narode’s death, the forest department has increased foot patrolling and are constantly creating awareness among the villagers to return to their homes by 6 pm, not step out in the dark, light-up the areas around their homes, have bigger wattage bulbs on roads, keep their surroundings clean, and not throw any leftover food outside which might attract the big cat.

Meanwhile, the Pune forest department is baffled by a tiger sighting reported by a couple who saw the animal at Kondhanpur phata around the Sinhagad fort area on October 13. While the Haveli police have asked people living in the vicinity and travellers to be alert, forest officials did not confirm any such sighting when contacted.