Leopard Drags Away 4-Year-Old Child By Neck, Victim's Body Found In Sugarcane Field

A 4-year-old child in India was mauled to death by a leopard after the animal dragged him away while he was sleeping on the terrace of his home.

The incident took place Monday in Rudrapur, a city in the northern state of Uttarakhand. The leopard reportedly snatched the child, identified as Raj Singh, by the neck.

When the boy’s parents realized he was missing, they started searching for him, and also informed other family members and neighbors. Hours later, the boy was found in the clutches of the leopard in a nearby sugarcane field by the Khakhra river, The Times of India reported.

As the people made loud noises, the leopard fled the scene, leaving the child’s body behind. Villagers rushed to rescue the child and took him to Sitarganj government hospital, where the doctors declared him dead, Navbharat Times reported [Google Translate].

“The boy succumbed to grievous injuries on his neck after being attacked by the big cat. We have informed the forest department to take necessary action,” Nannakmatta police station house officer D.S. Solanki reportedly said, adding the child’s body has been sent for an autopsy.

In a similar incident in the state earlier this month, a leopard attacked and killed an 8-year-old girl after dragging her into a forest. Local officials launched a search for the girl and found her body behind a bush near her home. The victim was identified as Karishma Vishwakarma. The forest officials had installed a trap to catch the leopard responsible for the death of the child. “We had installed a cage at a 100 meter distance from the place, where the body of the girl was found on Sunday. When the leopard came to eat the kill, he got trapped in the cage,” Vinay Bhargava, divisional forest officer said at the time.

According to the "Status of Leopards in India 2018," released by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India's leopard population in 2018 was estimated at 12,852. The maximum leopards were said to be in Madhya Pradesh at 3,421, followed by Karnataka at 1,783, Maharashtra 1,690, Tamil Nadu 868, Chhattisgarh 852 and Uttarakhand 839, according to the New Indian Express.