Leopard Drags, Mauls 2-Year-Old Girl To Death After Stalking Her Family

A 2-year-old girl in India's Madhya Pradesh state was fatally mauled by a leopard earlier this week after the animal allegedly stalked the child's family.

Farmer Prabhu Imliyar and his wife were working in their farmland in Kadhda village near the forest of Amjhera when the animal attacked Tuesday evening, newspaper The Times of India reported. The leopard targeted the couple's baby daughter, Varsha, who was playing nearby, according to the outlet.

"[A] leopard sprang from the dense foliage, caught the baby girl in its jaws and dragged it away. Her father heard her cry and ran after the leopard," Dhar's district forest officer Akshay Rathore was quoted as saying.

Both parents then proceeded to hurl stones at the leopard before chasing it, which forced the animal to drop Varsha and flee into the jungle, according to the report.

Varsha suffered severe injuries to her neck and her abdomen. She was taken to a hospital in Amjhera before being transferred to Dhar District Hospital, where she died Tuesday night.

Forest teams are now trying to identify the leopard, which had allegedly stalked Varsha's family for some time.

"We have set up three cages in Kadhda village and a team of experts has arrived from Indore to help rescue the leopard," Rathore said.

Leopard movement and incidents between humans and wildlife are on the rise in Dhar district, according to Rathore. Some attacks could be attributed to illegal forest clearing activities in the area, the official noted.

Rathore said he will write to the state's principal chief conservator of forests and ask for a survey to know the number of leopards in the district. Additionally, he will be asking for ways to avoid leopard encounters.

A similar incident happened on the same day as Varsha's attack in the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh, which resulted in a 6-year-old boy's death.

The victim, identified as Abinash Ganda, was walking home with his family in a village Tuesday when the leopard attacked him. Ganda was dragged away into a forest right in front of his parents and was later found lying on a rock in critical condition.

The boy was taken to a local hospital, but he was declared dead at the medical facility.

Forest department officers were unable to locate the leopard that attacked Ganda. The department later provided his family with a compensation of $465 following the incident.