Two injured in leopard attack

Vadodara, Jan 9: Two farmers were injured, one of them seriously, when a leopard attacked them at Sinor village, about 70 kms from here.

The full-grown wild cat first attacked Pravin Vaghri (28) while he was working in his farm at around 1000 hrs. However, when Vaghri retaliatated with a sharp-edged weapon, the animal retreated after inflicting injuries on his back.

According to Vadodara's chief conservator of forests (CCF) Mr Deepak Tipre, despite alarm being sounded in and around the village, the leopard emerged again within half-an-hour of the first attack and then retreated into the nearby forests, after severely mauling another 40-year-old farmer, Bhikhabhi Vaghri, of the same village.

Both the injured have been admitted to the local hospital.

The CCF, who along with his staff and policemen rushed to the village, put up three cages in the panic-stricken village to trap the animal. An alert has been sounded in the entire village and adequate police arrangement has been made, Mr Tipre said.

Yesterday, a young leopard had spread panic in the posh Amitnagar Society in Vadodara city by entering the bathroom of a bungalow. It had taken the forest department four long hours to capture and put it in a cage by using a tranquiliser.

UNI