Leopard Attacks, Kills Woman Out To Answer Nature's Call, Partially Eaten Body Found

In a horrific incident, a woman was attacked and killed by a leopard Tuesday. The woman's partially eaten body was found in a forest area in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Forest officials had installed three cages in the area after the leopard attacked three other women earlier this month. But they still couldn't trap the animal.

"On Tuesday evening, we rushed to the spot on learning about the incident and took into possession the woman's partially devoured body. The leopard has been roaming in the area and this is the fourth incident of attack on women in a month," Mohan Ram Arya, range officer of Jaurasi mountain range in Almora district said, the Hindustan Times reported.

The villagers launched a search after the 50-year-old woman went missing Tuesday.

"Her torch was lying at the main door. Most probably she might have come out of the house in the night to relieve herself but fell prey to leopard," Kheema Nand Balodi, the village head, told local media.

Authorities said the leopard was declared as a "man-eater" by the state forest department on Jan. 9.

"The chief wildlife warden has issued an order declaring the leopard as dangerous to human life. We have been permitted to tranquilize and cage the leopard first. In the condition of failing to catch the leopard, then we have been instructed to shoot it," Mahatim Singh Yadav, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Almora, said at the time.

Earlier this month, in the Indian state of Gujarat, a 4-year-old boy was mauled by a leopard.

"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, said at the time.

Jayantilal Pandya, range forest officer (RFO) of Jasadhar, told local media that the boy's father was harvesting drumsticks while he and his mother were waiting for him. The child's mother was looking in the other direction when the leopard leaped out of the plantation and attacked the boy.