Woman Attacked By Leopard While Asleep Outside In UP Village, Rescued By Villagers

Upon hearing the 20-year-old's screams, villagers came out and managed to free her from the leopard's clutches by hitting the animal with sticks. However, she was seriously injured in the attack.

The attack occurred near Katarnia Ghat Wildlife Sanctuary. ( Image Source :Representational Image/ Getty )

A 20-year-old woman was grievously injured after a leopard attacked her near Katarnia Ghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district on Sunday. According to a PTI report, the attack took place at Sirsianpurva village in the Sadar Beat area of the Katarnia Ghat Forest Range. The report quoted residents of the village as saying that the victim, Madhuri, was asleep on a cot outside her house when a leopard emerged from the forest and attacked her around 1.30 am. 

They said the leopard grabbed her and dragged her towards the forest. 

Upon hearing her screams, villagers came out and managed to free her from the leopard's clutches by hitting the animal with sticks. However, she was seriously injured. 

The villagers initially took Madhuri to a local primary health centre, but, due to a deep injury on her head, she was transferred to the district hospital where she had to undergo treatment, PTI quoted local residents as saying. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Katarnia Ghat, B. Shiv Shankar, confirmed the incident.

The forest personnel in the area were alerted following the incident, and an awareness campaign has been launched in the villages around the site, advising villagers not to go out late at night and not to sleep outside their houses, the DFO was reported as saying.

Family Of Four Attacked By Leopard

A similar incident took place in Odisha's Balasore district on Saturday, as a family of four working on a farmland in Gad village were attacked by a leopard.

The leopard reportedly suddenly jumped out of a bush and pounced on a 50-year-old woman. When the other three family members came to her rescue, the leopard attacked them as well before running away. 

All the injured were admitted to Khaira hospital but the woman was shifted to the Bhadrakh district headquarters hospital for better treatment, PTI reported the police as saying. Soro Forest (wildlife) Range officer Manoranjan Nayak said a forest department team is conducting a search operation in the area to locate the leopard.