Leopard kills another kid

23-12-2012
Leopard kills another kid
Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Leopard-kills-another-kid/articleshow/12374609.cms

An eight-year-old boy was killed by a wild cat in Savani village of Veraval taluka in Junagadh district on Wednesday night. The incident, second in the past two days, occurred at around 8.30 pm in a sugarcane field. The boy's skeletal remains were found on Thursday.

The deceased, son of labourers from Maharashtra, has been identified as Sunil Urshiya. The victim along with his sisters was playing in the sugarcane field outside the makeshift huts when a leopard dragged him away, sources said.

"We went to the spot as soon as we go the information. However, his skeletal remains were found on Thursday morning about 100 metre away from where the incident occurred," range forest officer, Veraval, B V Padsala said.

Forest department has placed cages at various places to nab the leopard. Earlier on Tuesday night, Asmita Bharad (8) was killed by a leopard in Inaj village of Veraval taluka. Forest officials suspect the leopard that had killed Asmita must have attacked Sunil too.

This is the fourth incident in Junagadh in the last two months wherein a leopard has attacked humans. All the victims are children of labourers. Those killed earlier were two girls -- one-year-old Sapna Damor and 12-year-old Nirmla Puwar.

"Migrant workers' families stay in sugarcane fields which become leopards' habitat during the end of the sugarcane harvesting season. This is the main reason behind the human-wildlife conflict here," an official said.