Leopard Drags, Kills 3-Year-Old Child Playing On A Farm; Body Found

A leopard attacked and killed a 3-year-old girl in India while she was playing on a farm. A forest official said Sunday the child's body was found at a distance from where she was last seen.

The incident took place in Gujarat's Junagadh district, Outlook India reported. The chief conservator of forests (Wildlife), Dushyant Vasavada, said the child's parents were cutting sugarcane when the leopard attacked the girl. The animal mauled the child, and dragged her to some distance before leaving her body.

Authorities investigating the incident said they have placed cages in the area to trap the leopard responsible for the death of the child. The victim was identified as Namrata Vasave, Outlook India reported.

The latest incident is the second in the area in nearly a month. In January, a 75-year-old man's partially eaten body was found after he was mauled to death by a leopard. The man was reportedly chained at a farm in the Amreli district of Gujarat.

The man, identified as Manu Savaliya, used to bite villagers and had also once fallen into a well due to his blindness. To prevent him from harming himself or the others, the villagers allegedly chained him, the Times Now reported at the time.

Earlier in January, a 4-year-old boy died after being attacked by a leopard in Gujarat. The boy's father was harvesting drumsticks by climbing on a tree while the boy and the mother were waiting below. The child's mother was looking in the other direction when the leopard attacked the boy.

"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 at the time.

Authorities said the leopard had bitten the boy's neck by the time his mother noticed the animal. The child was declared dead at the scene.