Leopard Strays Into Residential Area, Injures 5 In Madhya Pradesh

Five people, including a one-year-old girl, were injured in an attack by a leopard that strayed into a residential area in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Thursday, officials said.

The leopard was later tranquilised and caught by the authorities after five hours of efforts, they said.

The leopard ventured into Limbodi and its surrounding areas from a nearby forest and attacked five people- the toddler, a 30-year-old woman, one employee each of a zoo and the forest department, and a watchman, the officials said.

"The leopard was trapped in an under-construction building in Limbodi area using a net and later tranquilised with the help of a dart gun," Kamla Nehru Zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav told PTI.

The wild animal was caught after five hours of efforts, he said.

Earlier, the leopard had dodged the forest staff a number of times and also tried to attack them and others.

The leopard has been taken to the zoo and once it regains consciousness, a medical examination will be conducted before it is released into the wild again, he said.

Khemraj Rathore, a resident of Limbodi's Shankar Mohalla, said, "The leopard entered my house as the door was open, and bit my wife. At that time, she was cooking and three children were studying inside."

"After hearing their screams, I scared away the leopard with a stick," he said.

Some videos related to the incident went viral on social media. One video shows a man, bleeding due to the leopard attack, frantically searching his daughter, whom the animal tried to catch. People present there try pacifying him by telling him that his daughter was taken to a hospital and he should also get his first-aid done.

Another video shows the leopard coming out of the under-construction building and attacking a rescue team member, due to which the latter falls to the ground, following which people raise an alarm and the animal runs back into the concrete structure.