Man injured in leopard attack; forest dept to rescue big cat

An elderly man sustained injuries after a leopard attacked him in a bid to escape from a field where it had entered in search of prey, in a Sitapur village on Sunday morning.

The injured man identified as Rambaksh, 65, of Kodari village of Reusa block in Sitapur, was working in a field along with other villagers when they spotted the leopard. The villagers tried to chase it away, but in a bid to escape it attacked Rambaksh.

As per reports, the villagers even made videos of the big cat on their mobile phones.

“We got the information about a wild animal being spotted in the field. When we reached there, the villagers had surrounded the animal and were shouting at it. We stopped them from doing so but the villagers were adamant because of which the animal panicked and, in a bid, to escape, it attacked a man,” said deputy ranger Aditya Singh, who then took Rambaksh to a health centre for treatment.

The animal was spotted last near Narayanpur village, he said.

The forest officer said the headquarter has been informed about the incident and soon a new team will arrive to rescue the wild animal. The priority will be to ensure the animal gets back to its natural habitat.

At present, the harvest season is going on and famers are mostly in their fields to collect the produce. They remain in the fields all day and at night for the safety of their crops.

“A man sitting in the field and working appears as a prey to the wild animal such as tiger. They attack the humans thinking it to be their prey. Otherwise, tigers keep away from humans,” said a senior forest official. Felines usually avoid confrontation with humans, he said.