A female leopard was caught Monday after it attacked four people, including two women, in two days in Valsad. While the condition of the four injured are learnt to be stable, the leopard, which was tranquilised, incurred head, neck and tooth injuries and is under treatment at Valsad forest department nursery. The leopard was caged after it entered the house of Kishorbhai Thakor, a retired Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited official, in Kachhi village Monday. The animal entered the house and was in the room of Kishor's bedridden son Keyur (31). Kishor and his wife, who were in the front area of the house, were alerted after hearing a commotion in Keyur's room. Kishor, who rushed to the room with a wooden stick, found the leopard attacking his son. When he hurled the wooden stick at the big cat, it retaliated and attacked Kishorbhai and escaped to the next room. Kishor then locked the room from outside and informed the village sarpanch who, in turn, alerted the forest officials. The officials arrived at the spot and placed a cage in the house. They also fired at the leopard with tranquillizer guns through the window, said forest officials. After nearly four hours, the officials managed to cage the leopard. Kishor and Keyur, who incurred injuries, were discharged from a private hospital after a couple of hours. Earlier on Sunday evening, the same leopard had entered the house of Mukesh Patel at Valvach village in the district. Mukesh was in the fields, while his wife Manisha (40) and their daughter Nirali (18) were at home along with Manisha's aunt Kamlaben Patel (71). The leopard who entered the house attacked Manisha and Kamlaben. Later, the leopard escaped from the spot. Both Manisha and Kamlaben were rushed to a private hospital where they were given primary treatment and discharged late night on Sunday. According to Valsad North Division Deputy Conservator of Forest Nisha Raj, the leopard caught from Kachhi village is the same leopard who attacked the two women in Valvach village. "The leopard has a radio chip attached and it is a female leopard. The leopard is currently under treatment. Once she becomes stable, we will take further action after discussing with top officials.” In the 2017 census, there were around 45 leopards in the Valsad north division comprising some parts of Navsari. "In the recent census of 2023, the number of leopards had gone up to 60 in my division," added Raj.
