Mystery in Daund village after mother says leopard took baby, but officials yet to find evidence of attack

Pune: Extensive search operations were underway on Wednesday in a village in Daund taluka (about 80km from Pune city) after the mother of a 11-month-old baby claimed the child was dragged into a nearby sugarcane field by a leopard. The mother told the forest department the leopard struck around 5am on Wednesday while she slept with her baby next to livestock. They are a family of shepherds and had been staying in Dahitane village for the last 2-3 days when the attack occurred, the mother told the department.

Forest officials, who reached the village around 7.30am, said on Wednesday evening they were yet to see tell-tale signs of an attack. "In such cases, we usually see a blood trail and pugmarks, but those may have been disturbed by heavy movement of people in the area," one forest officer said.



According to officials, the mother only caught a quick glimpse of the leopard dragging her baby away. She then screamed and alerted family members who were sleeping nearby, but remains the only witness to the attack, forest officials said, adding the search area for the child, identified as Anvit Bhise, had expanded to over 100 acres by Wednesday night. "We have deployed drones with thermal cameras to keep up the search in the dark.

This is strange because we're yet to find evidence of a leopard attack. But I did see one in the morning here and the area is known to have the big cats," said Honorary Wildlife Warden Aditya Paranjape who was on site. Paranjape said Anvit's family have been asked to file a missing persons report.

Forest officials said sniffer dogs have been added to the search team, which now includes more than 100 people. "We're yet to confirm if this is indeed a leopard attack," said Deepak Pawar, assistant conservator of forests, Pune. "There was panic among villagers here early in the morning.

But Dahitane village has never reported a leopard attack on a person before. We have set up traps in the area," Pawar added. There was also a short scuffle early on Wednesday between forest officials and villagers, who accused the department of ignoring demands to set up the trap cages.

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