Boy mauled to death, attack by leopard suspected

The boy, Chandan, was a resident of Sahabdeenpurwa village, forest officials said. According to the villagers, the boy had gone to the fields to collect grass for his livestock when a leopard attacked and killed him.

A 14-year-old boy was killed on Sunday in a suspected leopard attack in Dhaurahra range of North Kheri forest division. The boy, Chandan, was a resident of Sahabdeenpurwa village, forest officials said.

According to the villagers, the boy had gone to the fields to collect grass for his livestock when a leopard attacked and killed him. Villagers rushed to the rescue of the boy, but he had died by then, while the big cat fled into dense fields.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), North Kheri, Anil Kumar Patel confirmed to have received the information of the boy's death. He said local field staff was on the spot to collect pugmarks of the big cat to ascertain if it was a leopard or a tiger. Patel, however, hinted that it could be the leopard whose movement in this area was being reported since the past one week.