A wild leopard has killed two children in central India in less than 12 hours, local authorities report.
The leopard first killed a three-year-old girl in front of her house in a village in the Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh state, and dragged the body away.
A ten-year-old boy was attacked and killed in a nearby village, allegedly by the same leopard, just a few hours later.
Killer animal: The ten-year-old boy and the three-year-old girl were attacked and killed by the same leopard in less than 12 hours (stock image)
The boy was also snatched outside his family’s home, and his remains were eventually found in the bushes surrounding the village, Times of India reports.
‘It is a leopard, and a young one, which is why it’s targeting children,’ SS Uddey, district forest officer of east Chhindwara told the newspaper.
‘We are searching for the animal and will relocate it once it is captured. We are in touch with villagers to help them take safety measures.’
The newspaper reports that five children have been killed by tigers and leopards in Madhya Pradesh in three months.
Terror: Both children were attacked in front of their homes in two nearby villages in the Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh state
Deadly big cat attacks have become increasingly common in India, as humans increasingly encroach on their natural habitat.
Some 92 people were killed in tiger attacks between April 2014 and May 2017, a government report released last year said.
There are no figures on the number of humans killed by leopards, but it is estimated to be much higher than the deaths by tigers.
India is home to more than half of the world’s tiger population with some 2,226 of the animals roaming its reserves, according to the last count in 2014.