A horrific incident took place in Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune when a woman and her child were attacked by a leopard in their sleep. The leopard left the area after the woman put up a tough fight and raised an alarm.
The woman and her 18-month-old baby were sleeping outside their hut when they were attacked. The woman woke up after she heard the leopard growl and before the woman could wake up entirely, the leopard caught hold of her son¡¯s head.
Vishal Adhagale, round forest officer told the Times of India, that the woman started hitting the leopard to save her son. Though the leopard let go of the toddler¡¯s head, it caught hold of the woman¡¯s hand.??
TOI
The animal fled the spot as she raised an alarm. The incident occurred when Dnyaneshwar Mali (the baby) was sleeping with his parents, Dilip and Deepali, outside their hut at Dholvad village near Ottur in Junnar, around 90 km from Pune city, around 1:30 am.
¡°Dilip and Deepali are involved in cutting sugar cane. Like many such labourers in the area, they were also sleeping outside their house. Deepali, aged around 20, woke up on hearing the leopard¡¯s growl. But by that time, the animal had caught hold of Dnyaneshwar¡¯s head,¡± round forest officer Vishal Adhagale told Times of India.
The villagers want the forest department to set up a cage in the area to catch the leopard. ¡°The forest has been urging the villagers not to sleep in the open and also to keep their domestic animals indoors to avert any leopard attack,¡± Adhagale said.
Reuters/Representational Image
When the woman raised the alarm, the leopard ran away. The toddler had marks of the leopard¡¯s teeth on his neck and eyes.
He was admitted to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation run, Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital. The 18-month-old will be discharged from the hospital on Monday.