Girl, three, is eaten by a leopard after being snatched from her mother’s lap in India
- Pranita Oraon was dragged from her mother on Tuesday night in west Bengal
- She is the third child to be killed by the predators in the area in five weeks
- Foresters have launched a 24-hour vigil at the tea garden and set up four traps
A leopard killed a three-year-old girl after snatching her from her mother’s lap outside their home in West Bengal.
Pranita Oraon and her mother Puja were in the courtyard of their home in the workers’ quarters of Garganda tea estate in Alipurduar district when the animal attacked on Tuesday night.
The toddler’s body was found just under two miles away the following morning.
A leopard jumped a fence in the workers’ quarters of Garganda tea estate in west Bengal, India and snatched a three-year-old girl from her mother’s lap
The leopard reportedly jumped a fence to enter the estate, where Puja works as a labourer, in what was the third killing of a child by leopards in the area in just five weeks.
Pranita’s mother Puja said that she tried to fight off the animal, the Times of India reported.
‘I tried my best. It was so large… I could not save her,’ she said.
‘She (Puja) was cooking in front of her house and the child was with her. As the leopard took away the kid, the mother ran after the animal and her shouting attracted other villagers,’ said Sibu Chhetri, a local school teacher told the Hindustan Times.
Mr Chhetri added that people have stopped leaving their homes after dark.
Hundreds of residents staged a protest when foresters and police arrived at the tea estate on Wednesday, saying they were scared for their children and living in fear of an ambush.
It was the time a leopard had killed a child in the area in five weeks after two boys aged six and 12 were dragged off by the predators in December
‘It is a matter of great concern for us. We are feeling scared to work or to even step out of home. We are worried about sending our children to school,’ mother-of-two Rita Kheria told the Telegraph of India.
The protesters refused to let the police remove Pramita’s body for around three hours.
It is not unusual for leopards to enter the tea estates of north Bengal, forest officer Kumar Vimal told the Telegraph.
‘They find easy prey for themselves and their cubs. Earlier leopards used to target poultry, calves and in some cases, dogs. But in the past one month, leopards have attacked humans four times here — thrice children and once an adult.
‘We are planning to consult experts on ways to handle the trouble,’ he added.
Meanwhile, foresters are operating a round-the-clock vigil close to the workers’ accommodation and have installed cages to try to capture the predators.
Last month two boys aged six and 12 were killed by leopards in separate incidents just a few days apart at tea gardens in Alipurduar.
An estimated 4,000 leopards roam the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, which is home to 283 tea gardens. But Ujjawal Ghosh, chief conservator of forest and wildlife in the north told the Hindustan Times population is rapidly growing.