67-yr-old killed by leopard in Valsad, girl by lioness in Amreli

The incident took place on Monday evening and the forest department personnel caged the lioness in the early hours of Tuesday, he said.

As per details received from forest department officials of Dharampur, Sonaiben Kangabhai Chaudhary (67), a resident of Ambatalat village was sleeping on the floor outside her house when her grandson was woken up by her screams.

He saw his grandmother being dragged into the nearby agricultural fields and alerted his father and other family members, said officers.

Along with other villagers, he set out on a search operation but could not locate the elderly woman after which forest officials were informed.

On the basis of pug marks of the leopard and signs of a human being’s body being dragged away, they went into the nearby paddy field.Talking to The Indian Express, Dharampur forest officer Hiren Patel said, “We reached the paddy field and found the woman’s head while the lower part of the body was missing. We continued our search operation based on the blood spots detected, and after 100 meters, we found it in a mango orchard in the neighbouring area. We have handed over the body to Dharampur police for further process.” Following the incident, forest department officials installed 11 CCTV cameras and as many cages in the nearby area.

On Tuesday, the leopard was caught in one of the cages.

Patel added, “We have found pug marks of the leopard near the body. Once we get the post-mortem examination report, we will start the procedure to compensate the family members of the deceased. The leopard is a 7-year-old adult male. We are waiting for the approval from our higher-ups in order to decide the zoo it should be shifted in.”

Meanwhile, in Amreli, the lioness attacked the girl when she was on her way back home from a farm with her mother in Kanthariya Khalsa village of Jafrabad taluka, Range Forest Officer GL Vaghela said.

The lioness dragged the girl into the bushes. Later, body parts of the minor were found in a nearby area, he said.

Soon after the incident, forest department officials reached the spot and embarked on an exercise to capture the lioness.

They managed to tranquillise and cage the big cat early Tuesday morning, Vaghela said.

(With PTI inputs)