A three-year-old boy was attacked by a full grown leopard inside a village in Aarey colony.
The child's mother rescued him just in time from the claws of the big wild cat when she saw the animal. The Sanjay Gandhi National Park authorities have beefed up security for the villagers and have set up trap cages near the human habitat to catch the leopard.
28-year-old Pramila Renjhad from Chafachapada and her son Pranay had gone to a toilet located 300 metres from their residence in the village when the incident occurred, according to the forest department. When Renjhad came out of the toilet, she found the leopard had pounced on her son, who was waiting for her outside, and pinned him down.
She rushed to her son’s aid and started screaming for help. The leopard got scared and vanished in the bushes. Pranay suffered injuries on his back and had to receive stitches. The villagers first informed the Aarey police about the incident and soon the forest department rushed to scene.
“The leopard assumed the three-year-old boy as his prey and soon pounced on him, the mother reached in time to save the toddler. The boy has suffered injuries on his back and hands”, said a senior forest officer.
Cameras have been installed now to monitor the animal's movement. Sunil Limaye, Chief Conservator, SGNP, Thane region said, “We have beefed up the security in the village in which the leopard was spotted and will be speaking to the villagers to spread awareness about the big cat. We will try to ensure that man-animal conflict doesn’t takes place by monitoring the locality.” Adding, “We will set up trap cages near the human habitats so that the leopard who stroll in search of preys get trapped and can be safely taken inside the core area of the forest”, said Limaye.
