Leopard kills 10-year-old boy in Bhavnagar

Ahmedabad: A 10-year-old boy was killed by a leopard near Bhavnagar’s Bambhaniya village in the Mahuva rural belt around 6pm on Tuesday evening. This is the third reported fatal leopard attack in Mahuva taluka in two months, raising concerns about safety and wildlife management around farmland and villages close to scrubland.

Nitya Godaliya was returning from school on his bicycle when the leopard ambushed the child on the village outskirts and dragged him away before people nearby could help.A search party comprising Nitya’s family members and villagers later found the boy severely mauled and rushed him to a private hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. The body was sent to Mahuva General Hospital for postmortem. Nitya was his parents’ only son.

His death drew a large crowd of grieving and angry villagers to the hospital. Some said attacks by wild animals have become frequent, with farmers and labourers fearing for their lives while working.Forest officials said teams are out to capture the leopard. Cages have been placed in the area surrounding the spot of the attack, and patrolling has been intensified, they said.BOX: Man-leopard encounter video goes viralA video showing a delivery man’s close shave after a leopard attack in a deserted lane has gone viral online.

The veracity of the video, claimed to be from Gujarat, could not be verified. It shows the delivery man entering the lane in what appears to be a suburban area. Apparently scared by the bike’s headlights, the leopard tries to jump over a high wall to flee. After the failed attempt, it lunges at the biker, pushing him off the vehicle, and runs away.

The man is then seen running away on foot, leaving the fallen bike behind. A second later, another biker is seen riding into the lane from the direction in which the leopard went. The incident is purported to have occurred shortly after midnight on Tuesday.