Panic grips residents as leopard on the prowl attacks dog

Panic gripped residents of Madukkarai, near here, when they saw a leopard attacking adog in the early hours of Friday, police said.

The visuals of the attack and earlier incidents havegone viral in the social media.

At least 20 goats and five dogs were killed by the bigcat in the last one year, though the forest departmentpersonnel denied the presence of any leopard in the area, thepolice said.

Adding to the fear of straying wild elephants, themovement of the leopard has made the residentsanxious.

The incident, wherein the leopard was seen attacking adog at 1 AM on Friday near the house of a governmenttransport driver, made them even more scary, they said.

The residents managed to scare the leopard awaywhile the dog with deep injury in the neck is battling forlife, they said.

The leopard then entered a nearby house and killedthree out of 17 goats, they said.

The residents fear the leopard may kill them too, asthe human habitats are on the foothill with the easy accessto wildlife, they added.

Meanwhile, forest officials visited the spot and noticedthe pugmarks of the leopard. They placed a cage to trap itand cameras to monitor its movement.