A 11-year-old tribal boy was mauled to death by an adult leopard at Ankrod village in Surat’s Mangrol taluka on Tuesday.
Forest officials said the incident took place when Class VI student Mahesh Vasava took his cattle for grazing on the outskirts of the village on Tuesday afternoon. Two of his friends accompanied him.
“While Mahesh was waiting in the bushes, an adult leopard suddenly attacked him on the neck from behind and dragged him away. The other two boys immediately ran for help,” said a villager.
“The leopard dragged Mahesh to nearby sugarcane fields but could not take him further, as the fields were surrounded by wire fencing. Seeing the villagers approaching, the leopard left Mahesh on the spot and moved to the fields. Mahesh, who was severely wounded, died on the spot,” the villager added.
The villagers went on to inform forest officials and Mangrol police. After Divisional Forest Officer Anand Kumar reached the spot, the body was sent for postmortem examination to the government hospital.
Forest officials said Mahesh is survived by his mother Naynaben and younger sister. Villagers said Nayaben had separated from her husband a few years ago. BJP MLA Ganpat Vasava from Mangrol visited the family on Wednesday.
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Sources in the Surat forest department said that Mandi, Mahuva and Mangrol talukas in Surat have a number of leopards. “Leopards are found in these talukas due to the presence of Tapi river and standing crop of sugarcane, which is safe place for the animals to hide,” said an official with the Surat forest department.
Kumar said, “We have installed two cages where pugmarks of the leopard was spotted. The leopard is around 4 years old… We have kept goats in both the cages and hope that the leopard will be caught in the next couple of days.”
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“There were deep injuries on Mahesh’s neck, leading to blood loss and eventually his death…. We have opened a bank account in the name of Nayaben Vasava and started the process to give her ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh. We have intimated the villagers to take extra care while going into the fields and avoid moving alone during the night on village outskirts,” he added.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd