Seven injured in leopard attacks in T’kuru, C’magaluru; carcass found near Kadur | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru/Chikkamagaluru: Recovering from a series of elephant attacks over the past week, parts of southern Karnataka are facing leopard strikes since Wednesday. Seven people sustained severe injuries in two incidents of leopard attacks in Tumakuru and Chikkamagaluru. Besides, a carcass was found in a lake near Kadur in Chikkamagaluru.A leopard sneaked into a farm at Goni Tumakuru village in Turuvekere taluk of Tumakuru Wednesday evening and attacked five persons, including a woman, working there. The male leopard, said to be 4 to 5 years old, attacked Vanajakshamma, leaving her with severe facial injuries. As other farmers rushed to help her, the animal attacked them as well and caused multiple injuries. Locals complained the big cat had been repeatedly sighted near their village for the past few days and attacked livestock.“With several people descending on the farm, the panicked leopard entered a farmhouse, and farmers locked it inside. We called veterinarians and support staff from Mysuru, and in a late-night operation, we tranquillized the leopard and rescued it. The big cat was subsequently re-released into the core area of a nearby forest,” said Shashidhar GR, deputy conservator of forests, Tumakuru.Leopard lunges on bikersIn an incident similar to the recent leopard attack in Tirupati, a leopard pounced on two men riding a motorcycle near Kadur Thursday. Manjappa, 55, and Murthappa, 56, were travelling from Yemmedoddi to Sakharayapatna when the animal attacked them near Yemmedoddi. Villagers said one of the men lost a finger and the other sustained injuries on his shoulder in the attack. Conservationists alleged the leopard had been knocked down by a speeding vehicle and was lying beside the road. When the bikers approached the spot, it lunged at them out of fear.Body found at lakeBarely a few hours after the attack, Chikkamagaluru forest officials recovered the body of a leopard at Madagada lake near Kadur under mysterious circumstances. Locals alleged a leopard was seen attacking two people in the vicinity Thursday morning.As locals gathered at the spot in large numbers, the leopard took shelter in a bush. “Some villagers threw stones and charged at it with long sticks. Later, when they found it was dead, they threw its carcass into the lake. The postmortem report revealed a severe injury on its skull along with multiple injuries on its body,” a villager said. Wildlife activists demanded that forest officials book villagers who attacked the leopard rather than alerting the forest department.
