1 week Ago By Alim Shaikh
Pune: An 82-year-old woman sleeping outside her house because of the unbearable heat was attacked and mauled to death by a leopard at Inamgaon village in Shirur early on Friday. Her decapitated body was later spotted in a sugar cane field by forest officials. The woman was fast asleep when the leopard pounced on her and dragged her around 700 feet away to a sugar cane field.
The incident occurred around 4.30am. This was the first death in a leopard attack in the district this year, forest officials said.
In December last year, a 4-year-old girl was killed in a leopard attack in Shirur at Pimpalsuti village, around 4km from the site of Friday's attack. A senior forest official said that the woman, who had been suffering from asthma, was sleeping in the open as she could not sleep inside her house due to extreme heat. "The leopard first attacked the two dogs sleeping near the victim.
However, the dogs managed to escape, following which the big cat attacked the woman and dragged her by her neck to a nearby sugar cane field," an official said. The leopard attacked only her neck and there were no other injuries on other parts of her body, he said. Smita Rajhans, assistant conservator of forest, Junnar Forest Division, said, "A team immediately went to the spot after the forest department was informed about the incident around 5.
45 am. We conducted preliminary investigation as per the protocol. It was confirmed that the woman died in a leopard attack.
Later, the body was sent for post-mortem." The forest department has deployed cages at five places to capture the big cat. Additionally, trap cameras have been installed at nine places.
Two rotating cameras have also been installed. ANIDERS (Animal Intrusion Detection and Repellent System), machines have also been installed in the area as a preventive measure, Rajhans said. These machines are used to deter leopards and other wild animals from entering human habitations.
The forest department has already set up a base camp at Nhavare, a village located around 5-6 km from the attack site, considering the increased presence of leopards in the area. Rajhans said that leopard sightings have increased in areas around Shirur and Daund. "The leopard population is rapidly increasing, and they need a new territory every two years.
Hence, a large number of them are migrating towards Shirur and Daund, particularly around rivers, as these areas are also witnessing increased sugar cane farming," she said. |.
