Maharashtra: Two kids wake up to find leopard napping next to them

A leopard cub sneaked into a house and made its way underneath a mosquito net inside which two children were sleeping and allegedly dozed off right beside them till their mother got alerted to its presence early on August 14 in Maharashtra’s Nashik district.

The incident took place in Dhamangaon area of tribal-dominated Igatpuri taluka in the district, the official said.

Gorakshyanath Jadhav, forest Circle officer said that the three-month-old cub may have entered the house of Manisha Barde in the dark when she opened the main door early in the morning.

Jadhav said, “At around 5:30am today, Barde found the leopard cub sleeping beside her two children on the ground inside the mosquito net. She carefully took the children out of the net without disturbing the leopard. She then raised an alarm which alerted other villagers.”

Jadhav added that a team of forest officials arrived at Barde’s house and rescued the leopard and brought it to the department’s local office. As per procedure, the leopard would be later released into the forest.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old woman identified as Bali from Jeeva village of Duggada block in Pauri Garhwal was attacked by a leopard on August 12 when she tried to rescue her goat from the big cat. The husband of the victim, Surender Singh said “Bali was attacked by a leopard that was hiding behind the bushes.This is not the first time an incident like this has happened. We are scared to step out of our houses. Our children go to school alone, what if something happens to them? Villagers have said that they will kill the big cat if the forest department doesn’t take action. They should at least set up a cage to trap the leopard.”

“We want double the amount of compensation of Rs 5 lakh that is currently given. Also, there is an urgent need of of setting up a permanent cage to trap the leopard,” said the pradhan of the village Imam Ali.

He added, “If we kill wild animals, endless penalties and charges will be imposed on us. And on the other hand, the forest department is doing nothing when humans are being killed. Human life is not worth just a couple of lakhs so the compensation amounts should be doubled.”

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