Leopard injures 15 individuals in unprovoked rampage: ‘Many had been bitten’

The clip circulating on social media Tuesday exhibits the massive cat leaping over a barbed wire fence earlier than latching onto a passing van in Jorhat.

The animal manages to tear some trim off the surface of the automobile earlier than scampering again down the highway.

The leopard attacked at the least 13 individuals, together with a forest guard and mom and her two daughters, earlier than escaping into the comb, News18 reported.

“Some residents had a detailed shave because the leopard was roaming of their courtyards,” Ranjit Konwar, a divisional forest officer in Jorhat, informed the Telegraph.

“Lots of the injured had been bitten and wanted hospitalisation however they appear to be out of hazard now.”

The animal was tranquillised final Thursday following a two-day search. It’s going to endure additional examination earlier than being launched into Kaziranga Nationwide Park.

Leopards sometimes don’t assault people with out provocation, officers defined to the Telegraph. Whereas it’s unknown what precipitated the Jorhat rampage, it’s believed that the animal escaped the close by Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in the hunt for meals.

Huge cat assaults have sadly grow to be extra frequent in India, because the rising inhabitants and want for housing and infrastructure encroaches on forested areas.

In early November, two related clips went viral of a leopard tackling a motorcyclist within the southern city of Krishnarajanagara earlier than being subdued by a gaggle of villagers.

In 2021 alone, 500 individuals and 100 elephants had been killed in human-animal conflicts. India’s Minister of Atmosphere Bhupendra Yadav blamed the fatalities on “competitors for assets”.

This text was initially printed by the New York Publish and reproduced with permission