Leopard Attacks, Kills 4-Year-Old Boy In Front Of Parents

In a horrific incident, a 4-year-old boy has died after being attacked by a leopard in the Indian state of Gujarat.

"The child was injured on the neck by a leopard while he was in the tur (red gram) farm of Balubhai Navadiya along with his parents," Dushyant Vasavada, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) of Junagadh Wildlife Circle told the Indian Express.

Jayantilal Pandya, range forest officer (RFO) of Jasadhar, told local media the boy's father, identified as Prafullbhai, was harvesting drumsticks by climbing on a tree on the border of the farm while the boy and his mother were waiting below.

The child's mother was looking in the other direction when the leopard leaped out of the plantation and attacked the boy. The father immediately got down the tree and tried to chase the animal away. However, the leopard had bitten the boy's neck by the time and the child died at the scene.

Authorities said this was the fourth animal-related death in the region in the last three weeks. On Jan. 1, a 27-year-old farmer was killed after being attacked by a leopard in a neighboring village in the Jamwala range of Gir (west) wildlife division. On the same night, a leopard attacked a 40-year-old woman after entering her house.

In December, two 17-year-olds were killed in animal attacks in separate incidents. One attack involved two lions and the other a leopard.

It remains unclear if the leopard involved in the latest incident was also responsible for the other attacks.

“Due to good rainfall, enough irrigation water is available and farmers have planted crops like cotton, tur, etc in which animals like a leopard can easily hide and often come in conflict with people working on farms,” Pandya said, adding: “We have placed five trap cages in Nava Ugla to rescue the leopard involved in the attack on Thursday.”

In November, a leopard attacked and killed a five-year-old girl in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The child was resting on her grandmother's lap at their farm when the leopard snatched her away. A search was conducted to find the child and her body was later found in the forest.