An Asiatic lioness is suspected to have killed a five-year-old boy in Uchaiya village of Gujarat's Amreli district, forest officials said on Tuesday. The boy, identified as Kishor Parmar, was asleep in an open area bordering the agricultural field of one Madhubhai Bachubhai in Uchaiya village of Rajula taluka when he was attacked by a suspected wild animal. "The incident took place at around 1 am on Tuesday. After the parents did not find Kishor in his bed, they started searching for him. Forest officers were also alerted. Eventually, forest staff found Kishor's partially eaten body in forest patch called Bherai Vidi, around four km away at 6 am," Dadbhai Dav, assistant sub-inspector of Pipapav Marine Police station said. Forest officers said the boy could have been killed by a lioness which is raising two cubs in the Shetrunji wildlife division. "Movement of a lioness has been observed in the area where the incident took place. She is also having two cubs. We do not know the circumstances under which the incident took place as it happened in the dark of night. But we are investigating the matter," Dushyant Vasavada, chief conservator of forests of Junagadh wildlife circle told The Indian Express. Vasavada said that forest staff is trying to capture the lioness. "Since there are cubs also, we have put a ring cage in the area in an effort to rescue the lioness and the cubs," he said. Lionesses tend to remain aggressive when they are raising cubs, Vasavada added. The ASI, who is investigating the incident of accidental death, further said that the boy's family were residents of Lilapir ni Dhar area in Rajula town. "But they had been camping in Uchaiya village for some time and working as labourers in agricultural fields in and around the village," Dav further said.
